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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25500655">The Best Laid Schemes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DanteBeatrice77/pseuds/DanteBeatrice77'>DanteBeatrice77</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rizzoli &amp; Isles</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Romance, the one where Jane and Maura don't avoid how they make each other feel, what if it was a fake dating story but ADULT</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 04:22:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>39,842</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25500655</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DanteBeatrice77/pseuds/DanteBeatrice77</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Post season 6. Jane and her family have been hunted by Alice Sands for months now. After a shootout at Korsak's wedding, Jane resolves to take matters into her own hands - and Maura resolves to protect Jane at all costs, including drawing Alice out by dangling their relationship in front of her. This diverges from the canon after 6x18.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Maura Isles/Jane Rizzoli</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>116</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>449</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Plea</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So, this is the first story I am posting solely on AO3. We'll see how it goes! The idea came about from my desire to play around with the fake dating trope. Thank you in advance for reading!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Of one thing Maura was sure: when bullets flew about them and chaos descended upon their lives, like now, she loved Jane.</p>
<p>She loved Jane, and the way that she paced in the hospital waiting room back and forth, back and forth, in hastily donned soccer sweats and a Red Sox hoodie. She loved Jane’s worry, and her tenacity, the protectiveness that made her feel weak in the face of inaction. She loved the way Jane’s hair tumbled down her back and around her face again, and she loved the sharp squeak of her Adidas against the linoleum. She, above all else, loved the way that, though they were surrounded by distraught friends and family in the waiting room, Jane’s body communicated the feeling that it was only the two of them. Her hips were open and they shifted as she walked, as though they still carried her gun and badge; her stride swayed her closer to Maura’s seat for each time that she doubled back. Maura supposed that was what intimacy meant - being close, wanting closeness, even in times of true distress.</p>
<p>And the night had descended from jubilee into distress rather quickly, because KiKi laid in a bed somewhere, the bullet in her chest no doubt being sought out, being drawn out by the best trauma surgeon Massachusetts General had to offer. Not a wedding present Maura had wanted to give, but one that she was more than happy to arrange given the circumstances.</p>
<p>“It’s my fault, Maura,” said Jane, and the gruff admission caught Maura off-guard. She pushed her thoughts aside as she stood up to meet Jane’s eyes as best she could.</p>
<p>This proved easier than she thought, as she hadn’t the time to change between the Robber and the hospital: she still wore her heels. Nevertheless, she was grateful for them, because they allowed her a few extra inches now - she took Jane by the elbow and forced her to stop. “Look at me.”</p>
<p>Though it took her a moment, Jane eventually did, and Maura saw the hurricane brewing just under the color of her eyes.</p>
<p>Despite the volatility, Maura pushed forward. “That’s not true,” she said, still holding on.</p>
<p>“But-”</p>
<p>“That’s not true and you know it,” Maura reiterated at the slightest sign of Jane’s resistance. “You thought she was in Canada. After she opened fire, you chased after her - in a dress nonetheless.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, and she got away. I should still be out there. I should be looking for her,” Jane said. Her brow furrowed in a sour mix of rage and dammed tears, but Maura refused to entertain the guilt she saw there.</p>
<p>“No. You shouldn't - Frankie is; let him do his job. You got in your car and sped off against everyone’s wishes - you shouldn’t even be working this case. But none of that matters, because you’re here now. Korsak wanted you here, and mentally, this is where you need to be,” Maura’s voice was firm and it left no room for discussion as she tapped her friend’s temple.</p>
<p>Jane sniffled and nodded.</p>
<p>Maura chuckled.</p>
<p>“What?” Jane asked, crossing her arms. The way she hugged them to herself caused her hoodie to rise up and it exposed a line of skin between it and the sagging pants on her hips.</p>
<p>Maura bit her lip to keep from blushing. She didn’t even think that was how it worked, but it helped. She refrained from tracing a finger along the expanse of tan waistline. “It’s just, how did you even have time to change?”</p>
<p>Jane smirked despite herself. “You expect me to chase down a killer in that getup? I’m surprised I made it through the reception. I keep a change of clothes in the car.”</p>
<p>“Shoes too?”</p>
<p>“Shoes <em>and </em>socks. We can’t all be you, you know,” Jane was teasing, but the warmth of her statement crawled through the minuscule space between them. Maura liked to imagine that Jane meant there could never be another her, and that probably wasn’t too far off from the truth. They both leaned in for the embrace, her feet stepping a few inches closer between Jane’s wide stance, Jane’s hands moving toward her back.</p>
<p>She shivered in anticipation but it was not to be realized. “Rizzoli? And Isles?” A woman in pink scrubs came out from the hall holding a clipboard, and she squinted at what looked to be a hastily written note. Jane jumped and Maura followed her as they both waved off the concerned looks of friends and family. “Mr. and Mrs. Korsak wanted the two of you to come in before we opened up the room,” the nurse stated.</p>
<p>They nodded, too anxious to do much else. She showed them to a room all the way at the end of the hall, where two uniformed officers stood just a few feet away. They acknowledged Jane, Jane acknowledged them, and then Maura led her into the room by the hand.</p>
<p>KiKi looked tired and sick, but awake. Vince stood from his chair at her side when the two approached, and Mimi slept soundly in a chair near the room’s window. Maura felt that love for Jane swell as she stood just out of reach of her Sergeant, the guilt and nervousness radiating from her as she studied Korsak’s eyes, his face, his body language. It crescendoed when she heard Jane’s whine as Korsak took her into his arms with a hearty hug. They parted quickly after the muffled claps on one another’s back, and then all three of them turned to look at Kiki.</p>
<p>“How are you feeling?” Maura finally asked after awkward silence from the two others beside her, and when Kiki laughed, she joined in with a brilliant smile of her own.</p>
<p>“Physically? Crappy. The bullet broke my collarbone, so the doctors had to go in and repair it. Emotionally, I’m grateful - I’m so, so happy to be alive.”</p>
<p>Jane held back tears. “I’m sorry, Kiki. For all of this, on your day, I just-”</p>
<p>Kiki shushed her. “Did you shoot me? No. So I don’t want to hear you apologizing.”</p>
<p>“Yeah but she’s after me,” said Jane. She hung her head, but didn’t refuse Maura’s hand behind her, the way it bunched some of her hoodie and ran a thumb across the bare skin of her lower back. KiKi noticed, and Maura saw the way her eyes fell from Jane’s face and to the arm behind her. She smoothed the fabric against Jane’s lumbar spine and returned her hands to a fold just under her own hips.</p>
<p>“That doesn’t mean that it’s your fault. Don’t fight me on this. I’m a life coach, remember? Ouch,” said KiKi, wincing with the effort to shift her body with her good arm.</p>
<p>“Yeah, Kid. If you start beating yourself up over this, I’ll kick your ass myself,” Vince chimed in. The blue of his eyes glistened with good humor, but the severity of his other features and the sureness of his stance told them all that he would follow through on that threat.</p>
<p>“A’right already,” Jane put up her hands and finally breathed out a sigh. “What a honeymoon, huh?”</p>
<p>At that, the four of them laughed, and Korsak clapped Jane’s shoulder. “We’ll get her, alright? Frankie and Nina are out there, looking. They won’t stop until they find her. And as for my honeymoon, we were going to go away when all of this was over, but obviously that’s out of the picture for now. So, I expect you to throw me a great party in the meantime, one that isn’t at my own restaurant. It’s the least you could do.”</p>
<p>Jane smiled and relief slithered out of her in the form of dimples and crow’s feet. Maura marveled at the interplay. She marveled at the way Korsak knew Jane enough to know that letting her leave without any penance, no matter how frivolous or tangential, would only crush her further. So, he gave her a task. Did he take it seriously? No, but he knew Jane would, and it was a harmless repayment that she needed for her own sanity.</p>
<p>Maura loved Jane’s fairness, her compulsion to balance the scales - it made her anxious to get Jane alone, to take her home. “Well, we should let you get some rest,” she announced, placing a hand on Kiki’s free wrist.</p>
<p>Jane looked to the newlyweds. “Of course. You want me to let the others know?”</p>
<p>Korsak nodded towards the door. “I’ll go with you. Let ‘em know all’s well before they come in.” He led the way, with Jane and Maura saying their goodbyes to his wife quickly.</p>
<p>“Maura? Stay back for a second?” Kiki asked as Vince and Jane left the room. She sat up as best she could given the circumstances, sweat already forming on her tan skin from either the effort or the pain. She curled a lock of dark hair behind her ear, and Maura wondered for a moment why she was so nervous.</p>
<p>“Certainly. Here, don’t over-exert yourself,” she answered kindly and placed a steadying hand at Kiki’s back.</p>
<p>Kiki thanked her. “I guess that’ll be my new normal for the foreseeable future,” she said as she breathed a steadying breath.</p>
<p>“Depending on the type of plates or screws used to steady your clavicle, you should be able to return to regular physical activity in about 3 months,” offered Maura.</p>
<p>“You really are a genius, aren’t you? Orthopedics isn’t even your specialty,” said Kiki through a smile.</p>
<p>“No, it’s not. But, Jane’s fractured her collarbone at least twice since I’ve known her. I’ve had to read up.”</p>
<p>“That’s… that’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about,” Kiki paled a little bit at the admission and Maura straightened up at it.</p>
<p>“Oh?”</p>
<p>“Vince loves her,” said Kiki, simply.</p>
<p>“We all do,” Maura returned, a little off-kilter that Kiki seemed so in-tune with her earlier thoughts.</p>
<p>Kiki nodded. “Don’t let her kill herself over this. Over me. It wasn’t her fault. Don’t let her do anything stupid.”</p>
<p>Maura contemplated the statement -the command, really, and longed after it. “I’ll try. Believe me, I would want nothing more, but one thing I’ve learned about Jane is she <em>will </em>do what she pleases. There’s only so much I can do if she’s gotten an idea in her head.”</p>
<p>“So be smarter about it. Give her a safer option, make her think she came up with it. Whatever has to be done, Maura; I will lose my husband if he loses her.” KiKi’s eyes were firm and her words resolute. She married just enough gall and sympathy to be convincing.</p>
<p>Maura nodded after a pause. She would lose herself, too, if they lost Jane.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Plan</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>All chapters of this story are complete, and will be posted at semi-regular intervals. Thank you to all of you who are along for the ride! I hope you enjoy reading it as much I enjoyed writing it. If you do, drop me a line! I love to talk all things Rizzles.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The compound that Maura’s home had become in the recent days both relaxed and frightened her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The locks and cameras that had been put in place since the advent of Alice Sands reminded her of the immense value of her safety to Jane. It also reminded her that such safety didn’t really exist as long as a madwoman sought to dismantle the life they had built, specifically to tear Jane apart. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She thought about what KiKi said only half an hour before, when they were alone in her hospital room - how lost they would all be without Jane. Maura didn’t have to remind herself how lost Jane would be should anything happen to any one of them. She padded through the kitchen, the only light the dim bulb over the sink, and she kept it this way at night for several reasons, the most prominent of which being that she did not want to draw attention to the fact that she was home alone. Most people feared the dark when they feared for their life, but Maura took solace in it, knowing that it cloaked her. Alice Sands was on the run, no doubt, but her obsession meant that she was trained on every moving piece in Jane’s life at all times, ready to attack any vulnerability, anything that risked exposure by light. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As she poured herself a sobering glass of red, she realized that she was the most important of those pieces. It’s why KiKi asked for her, insisted that </span>
  <em>
    <span>she </span>
  </em>
  <span>be the one who maneuver Jane away from the cliff to a slightly more manageable verge, though how much more manageable they would have to see. A sip or two was a definite must before she started scheming how to take down Alice. She closed her eyes when the earthy wine ran in rivulets down her throat; she savored its notes of spice and fruit, let its alcohol settle her nerves. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When the doorbell stung the air with its sharp pitch, followed by the violence of a few knocks that bellowed through the walls and into her home, she nearly sputtered the wine out of her mouth. She remembered the gun Jane had left her, just a few feet away in the desk drawer behind her sofa, but it might as well have been miles to cross when she saw that there was no way she wouldn’t be seen through the windows that lined the front door. Her hands gripped the counter, white with indecision.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Until a voice called out against the sudden silence. “Maura? Maura open up. It’s me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Jane</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura trotted to the door and pulled it open to see the woman that, against her own selfish wishes, she had sent home. “Jane. What’s wrong? Why didn’t you just use your key?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can’t sleep, wanted to give you a fair warning,” Jane answered as she pushed her way through into the kitchen, either unaware of or accustomed to the brush of her arm against Maura’s. She shuffled toward the refrigerator and reached for a beer, popping its cap off on the countertop.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura didn’t really know where to begin, so she started with the most obvious. “Did you even </span>
  <em>
    <span>try</span>
  </em>
  <span> to sleep? Did you even make it home?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane shook her head as she pulled from her bottle. “No point. Knew that as soon as I laid down, sleep wasn’t gonna happen.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura softened at the way her friend’s eyes crinkled and her mouth frowned with stress. “Give me that,” she whispered as she crossed the island, and plucked the beer from Jane’s hand. She replaced it with her body, hugging her loosely enough to relish each square inch of connection between them. When Jane dropped her forehead to Maura’s shoulder, Maura sighed. “You had more than enough at the Robber. You shouldn’t be ingesting any more depressants.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane hugged back as if to ignore her. “Speaking of the Robber, you’re still wearing this thing,” she mumbled as she smoothed flat palms up and down the sheer sides of Maura’s dress.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura, in turn, used every suppression technique she had learned to keep from shuddering. “You didn’t really give me a chance to change,” she laughed. When she felt Jane’s arms around her back again, squeezing as though at any moment she might slip away, she tried another tactic. “You aren’t really giving yourself a chance, either, you know. Things are happening </span>
  <em>
    <span>to</span>
  </em>
  <span> you, Jane.  Not because of you. The faster you realize that, the faster you’ll be able to take action.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane lifted her head enough to touch her brow to Maura’s. They swayed in the lightdark, silent for long moments. “I’m going to kill her,” Jane finally said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura’s spine chilled and she could no longer hold back the shudder she’d been stifling. She said what she thought she should, instead of what she wanted to: “No, you won’t.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I will,” Jane answered back in defiance. She opened her eyes then, finally, and the color of them against the shadows made them contrasting, shocking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura knew that now would be the best time, the truest time, to hold nothing back. Undoubtedly, they were having a </span>
  <em>
    <span>moment</span>
  </em>
  <span>. “You want to. It doesn’t mean you will.”Jane’s brow furrowed, her vulnerability wavered, and Maura took the leap to reach out and grab it with dark desires of her own. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>I </span>
  </em>
  <span>want you to,” she said, arms hooked under Jane’s and hands flat against strong shoulder blades. “I … I want to see you do it. I want you to protect me, and I want you to pay her back for all she’s done. But you are Jane, and who you are can’t bypass the justice system. It just wouldn’t be you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know if it’s that simple. I don’t know if I can control myself anymore. Not with this one. If she and I are alone together, one of us is going to off the other one. And I don’t plan on being the one doing the dying.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Their eyes lazed back and forth, mirroring each other. Maura knew, as soon as she saw the resolution staring back at her, as soon as she felt those hands at her sides again, that KiKi was right. “What </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span> you plan to do, then?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Like I said earlier. I’m gonna draw her out,” stated Jane. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And that’s final?” asked Maura, with one more avenue for Jane to step away from that recklessness, for her to let her colleagues handle Alice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But, as anyone could have guessed, it wasn’t to be. “Final. It’s what she wants, and it’s the only way to get what I want.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura had her answer, then. The truth of it all struck her. “She wants you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah. For whatever reason, she wants me dead,” Jane said. They fell out of their embrace naturally, and she raided the fridge once again, this time for something to eat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, she wants </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” the light of epiphany shined on Maura’s face as soon as she said the sentence, so much more shaped and real once it became sound waves that rippled through the air - a physical manifestation of the truth. Jane nearly laughed half of a carrot stick out of her mouth.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, Maura,” she scoffed. “at the bottom of the Charles. We’ve been over this.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, Jane. She wants you. She loves you,” Maura said as she went to the cabinet and unscrewed the jar of peanut butter to set in front of her friend. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane blushed. “Impossible. The bitch is incapable of love. She’s a psychopath.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Most likely, yes. That doesn’t mean she cannot desire someone.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane crunched on her snack thoughtfully, then her eyes ballooned. “You think I should seduce her?!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No!” Maura yelped, sporting her own scandalized look, “no.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But it’s her weakness. You are her weakness,” with each word, Maura grew steam, grew confidence. She smirked when Jane gulped.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s how you draw her out, Jane. That’s how </span>
  <em>
    <span>we </span>
  </em>
  <span>draw her out.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So… </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> seduce her,” Jane raised an eyebrow, thoroughly confused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura shook her head and put her hand on the slender one resting on the countertop. “No. We make her jealous.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Persuasion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Maura waited for the dam to crumble and the yelling to start. Jane just narrowed her gaze.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What exactly are you getting at, Maura?” she asked, attempting to shake off the muddle in her shootout- and champagne-peppered brain. She covered the Red Sox logo of her sweater with her crossed arms. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura held on to the feeling from moments before, the intimacy of vulnerability, though it tried to slip away. “You and I could make her believe that we… well,” she faltered with a flush at the last moment, but Jane had heard more than enough.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, hell no. Absolutely not,” she barked. “Are you kidding?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No,” answered Maura quietly, suddenly a little less sure of the stability of the branch she had climbed onto. “Why not? We’ve gone under cover before.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I said no. This isn’t some sting operation. I am not going to fake date you to get to her. There’s got to be another way.” Jane crinkled up her nose in rejection and snatched the beer bottle that had been taken from her back from the counter.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Would it be so hard? Is that really something you can’t pretend to do for a few days? Why are you so against it?” Maura started with admonishment, but ended with a quiet pleading.  She watched the shadows hug her friend’s face and creep up behind her shoulders, and she darted her gaze to something neutral to gather herself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane, however, was a lightning rod now, nothing neutral about her. “Because it puts you in the direct line of danger! How could I do that, in good faith, knowing that you could be hurt? She had you kidnapped, for Christ’s sake,” there was a voice break and a whine at the end of her statement, a sore spot for the woman who often seemed impervious to them. “She wouldn’t hesitate to kill you to kill me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura tried not to smile at the sound, especially since Jane seemed so out of sorts. “But that’s the point. It wouldn’t just be me. It would be you and me, together.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane scoffed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura didn’t hear another outright rejection, so she continued. Honestly, her plan was all of five minutes old, but as soon as it entered her mind, it was the right one. She couldn’t stop Jane from using herself as bait, but she could stop her from using herself as bait alone. “It’s what makes us strong,” she said as she approached Jane, careful not to touch lest Jane run; but she felt her confidence grow when she saw a hard, conflicted stare in her direction. “Isn’t it? You know it’s a good plan, you just don’t want me to be in harm’s way. But you don’t know anyone who knows you like me. You don’t have time to build the rapport with another detective. We’re best friends - that’s why this works.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But it doesn’t work,” doubt infused each vowel. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura heard it all, and heard an opening, a deference. She smiled at her strong, tired Jane. “I’m not going to let you do anything alone.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane huffed. “Can’t we talk about this another time? Please? It’s…” she paused to stare at the oven’s digital clock, “2 AM and they’re not letting me go after her until the morning.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fine - we’ll go to bed. But will you promise me that you will at least consider it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A’right a’right. I’ll think about your terrible idea,” Jane conceded. “But don’t hold your breath.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura exhaled noisily, but contentedly. “I never do when it comes to you.” Jane had walked away and toward the dark stairs, but before she was totally eclipsed by shadow, Maura noticed her shoulders droop with some unseen weight. She felt it against her back too when she jogged up the stairs to keep pace. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane swerved right instead of left at the hallway, but didn’t bother to glance behind her - Maura would follow, even if the guest bedroom wasn’t her usual sleeping place, and so she did. She stopped in the doorway as Jane shuffled around the room, grabbing extra pillows from the closet and a toothbrush from the bathroom’s vanity. Maura knew that if she waited just long enough, Jane would speak, especially after the explosive proposition she deposited in the kitchen. It was with the toothbrush in her mouth and froth around her lips that Jane finally caved. “Wouldn’t she already know?” the muffled words tumbled out and around the scrubbing sounds and the running water.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura walked over, still in her heels and dress, and turned off the water. “What have I told you about wasting water this way?” she asked, turning her back to the vanity and leaning her behind against the granite. She crossed her arms again, and this time her ankles, too, and smirked at Jane’s blush, caused in equal parts by the admonishment and the touch of their thighs - hers only half-covered and Jane’s still in those soccer sweats she loved so much. She waited for Jane to spit out the excess toothpaste and wipe her mouth. “Now, what was your question?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I said, wouldn’t she already know?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Know what?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Whether or not you and I were an item? She knows everything about me - hacked into my e-mails, ruined my finances, stole a watch my mother had given me god knows how many years ago.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura gave this some thought. Jane, ever the detective, needed to work every angle whether she supported a plan or not, and Maura respected that. She unlocked the phone in her hand and searched something. Jane raised an eyebrow, probably would have protested had last night not become this morning so long ago. “Look at this.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m confused,” said Jane as she took the phone and scrolled through.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s some of what she saw on your phone. Well, your last one,” goaded Maura.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, our texts. I hate to tell you, Maura, but we text everyday. I’m not really seeing anything out of the ordinary here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Should I read aloud?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, I’m lookin’ right at ‘em.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura took the phone back and raised an eyebrow of her own. “‘November 25th, Me- It’s late; are you alright? Jane - Yeah I’m good’,” she started.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane tried to contain her impatience, but failed. Her eyebrows shot up to the sky in interrogation. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura only put a hand on Jane’s side, chuckled, and elaborated. “You didn’t use a period.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So? It’s texting, not a dissertation.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So, you only do that when you’re tired, or mad. Context for the rest of the conversation, just be patient,” said Maura. “‘Me - are you sure? You can tell me. Jane - No I’m not sure. I’ve been here for 15 hours, it’s almost 10, and I’ve been surrounded by men all day. I just want to go home.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Me - I can definitely understand the need to be alone after being surrounded by people all day. Jane - No, you misunderstand me. I want to go home to </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span>-‘”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She would have read on, but a slender hand found its way to her mouth. “No need to continue. I get the picture,” Jane replied.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you?” Maura asked through the filter of fingers on her face. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane’s red face and barely contained smirk confirmed everything. “You’re smart, you know that? See those texts and it wouldn’t be a leap to think we started dating.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe I should have been the detective,” Maura quipped.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane rolled her eyes. “Don’t think you’ve convinced me. I’m still weighing the options. But for now, I sleep.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura assented and followed her to the bed as Jane fluffed pillows and shoved off her shoes. Jane flopped back first onto the duvet, head sinking into the pillowcase, a sigh escaping her, and her eyes wide open. “Will you? Sleep?” Maura’s voice was quiet, and pleading again. It was sad, and full.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know. But I’ll try like hell,” said Jane. She placed her hand in Maura’s lap. “Makes the time between now and being useful go faster.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura, who sat on the edge of the bed at her side, </span>
  <em>
    <span>tsked </span>
  </em>
  <span>in sympathy. “You know I have something that can help you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sleeping pills aren’t really my thing, Maura. Pills aren’t really my thing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know. But the offer’s on the table.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They stayed like that for long minutes, the ticking of the wall clock the only sound to disrupt their silence. With each tick, the air became more pregnant, until Jane, always Jane, couldn’t take it anymore.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you think we could be convincing enough to draw her out?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura paused before answering. “Yes, I do. But I doubt we even have to be that convincing - she’s running on rage right now. And I think even a hint of this would enrage her even more.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe you’re right,” said Jane, closing her eyes and withdrawing her hand to fold over her own belly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura reached over to turn off the lamp, and walked the steps to her bedroom from memory rather than light.</span>
</p>
<p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The Pique</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'll admit I can't wait to hear what you all think as the story begins to pick up steam. Glad you're along for the ride!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>As soon as she opened her eyes for the first time, Maura knew that Jane had gone. There were no sounds now, no muttered curses caused by toes finding furniture in the dark, no whistle from the coffee-maker or rustle in the fridge, but she didn’t need them - Jane was always gone before the sun when a madman was afoot. Except this time, a mad</span>
  <em>
    <span>woman </span>
  </em>
  <span>had appeared, and she was more than just afoot. Maura delighted in the feeling of sleep and the heat of the bedclothes around her just a little longer, unsure of how many more nights at home she would get when that madwoman hunted her as hard as she hunted Jane. The hunt was about to burgeon, too, if Jane accepted her proposal from the previous night. Her legs burned with the deep, instinctual need to run, and not just from years of disciplined morning jogging. She inhaled, then sat up on the edge of her mattress and tempered that urge, channeled it into some workout clothes and a pair of Nikes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane would kill her if she knew she were going out on a run around the neighborhood. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But, Maura thought as she smirked, that was the price Jane paid for leaving without saying goodbye, without showing her face when her job meant that any time could be one-last-time. She supposed they both had their reasons for their actions. Besides, she wasn’t alone, with officer Reynolds staked outside her door, ready to follow her on her path as she ran - it was a deal they had struck up years ago, when Paddy Doyle first showed up. He would watch her, she could run, do activities that Jane would forbid, but he got to follow her while she did it. He never ran with her, he stayed his distance, and to her, it was an acceptable compromise. If Jane were going to upend her life with a whirlwind of intimacy and love and danger, Maura could at least call some shots on how her life went when it was in crisis. She pursed her lips in confusion when she saw a second unmarked outside her home, and then a third down the street, but brushed it off as Jane being extra cautious and sped up her stride.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The burn against her sternum was welcome, as was the bounding heave of the oversized Celtics sweater on her torso. It was long, more suited for its real owner, Jane, but she had worn it once on a cold day and claimed it as hers ever since. It made her feel surrounded and strong. That strength made her double down on the plan that had sprouted only hours before - this was crazy enough to work, and only she was the one close enough to Jane to make it convincing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane’s hesitancy entered her mind as she rounded a corner and watched for other pedestrians before picking up speed again. Jane had, as she foresaw, immediately scoffed. But even Jane, in her paranoia and protective state, began to see the merit in the idea when confronted with Alice Sands’ need to possess her. Maura guessed, as the sun started to warm the gray clouds overhead, that Alice wanted to be approved by Jane, to be validated by her, to be loved by her. Thus, jealousy was the key to making her reckless, drawing her out. Jane knew that. And Maura had experienced enough jealousy over her life, over mothers and fathers and boys and girls, to know it viscerally, how impulsive it could make one feel. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She circled back to complete an erratic four miles, her steps as unrhythmic as the warring worries and conviction in her heart, and her glances backward to Reynolds in his unmarked almost as frequent as the breaths she took. When she lumbered up to her doorstep she paused, let herself process the fear underlying all of their actions as of late, and then told herself that there would be no crazy woman waiting to greet her on the other side: Jane had made sure that the entrance was impenetrable and the alarms inside were loud enough to spook all of her nosy neighbors. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura took a breath, opened the door, and then stepped in. Angela was at the counter, making something, and satisfied with this, Maura stepped back out and waved to Reynolds, who waved a burly hand back. He raised his newspaper as a signal that their lives would diverge again after that moment. “That smells wonderful,” she said to the woman at her counter, effectively cutting off the men outside by shutting the door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Angela smiled, held out her cheek, and awaited a kiss upon it, all while trained solely on her pan and spatula. Maura, reserved and prim Maura, came around the island to bestow that kiss with no reservations. </span>
  <em>
    <span>What wonders catastrophe could work for family.</span>
  </em>
  <span> “Thank you, honey, but it’s nothing special. With Vince tied up at the hospital, all I’ve got time for is a quick omelette before I’m off to the Robber.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, either way, it’s making me hungry,” said Maura in response. She grabbed a cold water pitcher from the fridge and poured herself and Angela a glass. It was unspoken that there would be an omelette for her; she’d learned to stop fighting whatever was offered to her when Angela ventured from the guest house to the main house to cook. So, she sat at one of the bar stools and busied herself with a glance over the Alice Sands case file that Jane had given her the day before, and returned to the task given to her: find an anomaly, something that would draw her out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thing was, Maura was convinced she’d found it the night before. She’d look over the details again, try to find something more effective, but that was more for Jane’s peace-of-mind than her own professional thoroughness. She read incarceration history, studied academy scores, intellectual strengths and weaknesses, when Angela put a plate in front of her. Maura looked up, and saw the glossy emotion in her eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jane was here last night,” was all that Angela said. Her voice didn’t quiver or break, and she smiled. But still her eyes were stormy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes,” said Maura, though she wasn’t asked a question. “she was.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know how grateful I am to you for finding her a place. You are so kind, making sure that each of us has a roof over our heads,” Angela took her hand, rubbed it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura felt herself growing red in the inability to read what was happening. “You all have given me family. It’s… the least I could do.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And her new place, it’s great. It is. And Frankie is so glad to have her out of his hair,” Angela chuckled, and Maura did, too. “But it makes me feel so much better when she’s here, Maura. Because more than having her own house, Janie needs you taking care of her.” Maura was about to respond, about to say that they had tried that, but she was interrupted. “So promise me something.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura just nodded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Promise me, that until this whole thing blows over, that you’ll try and convince her to stay here as much as possible. And if she wants her own place still after all that, fine. But just until then.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The plea took Maura aback. Jane was so fiercely independent. That independence defined her. But Angela was the second person in as many days to ask Maura to stay with Jane, to guide her. “I promise I’ll try,” she compromised. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Angela nodded, the words good enough for her, and then she took her own plate and sat down. They ate a few bites in silence before she looked over again. “If you try, you will. There’s nothing that you can ask that she’ll refuse.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura let that sit with her for the rest of breakfast. It was in the back of her mind when she waved goodbye to Angela, and when she marched upstairs to start her shower. It grew when she stepped under the water to calm her activated muscles, and she was shampooing her hair before she remembered that she was naked. With her hands lifted above her head, lathering away sweat and grime from the morning’s run, her body stretched, a valley for water to run over. She smiled at that: perhaps Angela was right. No one, not even Maura or Jane, knew exactly why it was the case that Jane could not resist her, but Maura did have more of an idea than anyone else.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It wasn’t that it boiled down to simple sexual desire - Maura believed that two people as aesthetically pleasing as herself and Jane were bound to have passing attraction to one another, or to anyone attractive for that matter. Those feelings fleeted; they weren’t unique. But, she’d be damned if they didn’t play some kind of role in their friendship.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Yet another reason why the plan should work.</span>
  </em>
  <span> It wasn’t until she finished her shower, got ready, and drove down to the precinct that she let herself think that thought. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Our sexual compatibility is real, </span>
  </em>
  <span>she mused when she watched Jane slam away at her keyboard just slightly harder than most days. Jane was all dark  - navy t-shirt against black slacks, raven hair unfurling in curls down her back and around her face. Maura breathed out her last introspective breath, her last doubt that she had misspoken in telling Jane about her idea, and looked down at the light colors of her skirt and blouse with pride. They complemented each other passionately, in all things. “You left without saying anything this morning,” she said as she perched her hip on Jane’s desk, her bag in her hands and covering her thighs.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It was real early, Maura,” sighed Jane, jotting a frenetic note in a cursive that Maura never could quite make out. “Didn’t want to wake you.” This was true, they both knew. Jane did not want to wake Maura, but not because she wanted Maura to catch up on sleep - because she wanted to escape the inevitable scolding. Did it matter? She received it at work anyway, but at least leaving just before dawn bought her a few waking hours of solitude. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What have I told you about that?” asked Maura, though she knew the answer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane knew the answer, too, and repeated it like an old mantra. “That it’s never too early to just say goodbye.” Her eyes were severe and her face was flat. She twitched and her voice didn’t lilt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura smiled, nodded, catalogued Jane’s petulance. She could argue, could call out her poor attitude, but she remembered KiKi and Angela. She nearly whispered. “Can I confide something in you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane perked up and her face relaxed. She surveyed the area, and, satisfied that no-one would overhear, answered back. “Of course.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your job frightens me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maura-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let me finish,” Maura raised a perfectly-sculpted eyebrow and Jane clamped her lips. “part of the nature of your job, especially lately, is that neither of us know if you’ll be coming home once you leave in the morning. I would appreciate it if you at least leave a note. Your face is preferable, but I’ll take either.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane dropped her head, closed her eyes, and smiled. “Ok. I get it - say goodbye. You’re worse than my Ma, you know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura chuckled. </span>
  <em>
    <span>If only you knew</span>
  </em>
  <span>. “Maybe so, but you and your family haven’t run away yet.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“True enough,” once she communicated that Maura had been heard, Jane seemed to close off again. She ran a hand over Maura’s knee, but then it was back to work. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did you think more about my proposal?” Maura asked. Time ticked whether they acted or not, and every moment that they lay idle, Alice moved unchecked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A little bit,” said Jane. Her voice was hoarse and low. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Good. I think we should decide by tomorrow, if they haven’t apprehended her. Alice is desperate; she will come at us again.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane bristled at the name, more than usual. “And I meant what I said last night. I’ll… incapacitate her. Permanently.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I meant what I said, too. You won’t. I won’t let you do this alone,” Maura bit back. When it became obvious that Jane would have nothing more to say, she continued. “Have a good day, and don’t stand in your brother’s and Nina’s way with this, please. The sooner I can sleep easily, the better. This REM deprivation is not helping my anxiety,” Maura called out as she walked away, and received only a grunt from Jane in response.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The walk to the elevator and subsequent descent to the morgue felt… </span>
  <em>
    <span>off</span>
  </em>
  <span>. She replayed the exchange in her head, watched Jane fight with her in her mind’s eye. None of it was really unbelievable - neither of them had gotten much sleep in the past week, Jane was never a morning person, and someone wanted to kill them. But the mood had quickly turned from united to… snippy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was life with a Rizzoli, Maura supposed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Any news? Any sign of her?” The Scottish clamor of Kent Drake, entirely too in-her-face, caused Maura to stop in her office midstride as he approached her from the crime lab.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, unfortunately. May I ask what you’re doing here so early?” she asked, professional but clipped.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He paid her tone no mind and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Wanted to be of service in any way I could. Couldn’t quite sleep, either. Even tried brahmi oil on my scalp and soles.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She marveled at his penchant for overshare, one that rivaled her own. In that moment, she counted Kent as a lesson to be more self-aware. “I don’t think any of us had much luck last night.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And KiKi, is she alright?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Comminuted fracture of the clavicle. All things considered, she’ll be alright,” she sighed, taking her seat with a huff of relief. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He moved closer to her, closer than he should have been. “Korsak won’t be in, then, I presume.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I highly doubt it. Do you need him for something?” she asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looked at her as though she missed the entire point and several before it. “Well, to keep the Rizzolis in line, of course. Frankie Rizzoli was in here this morning barking at me for more biological evidence from the State Trooper’s cruiser. Not that I don’t like to see him, but-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura smiled. Something about that family attracted empiricists, even when they were belligerent. “He means well. And he doesn’t mean to take it out on you. They just lash out when frustrated.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kent ran a hand over his dark hair, grinned wickedly, skin flushed. “It’s maddening, isn’t it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She thought for a moment before responding, taking a moment to marvel at him. “Yes,” she said simply. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nodded as though he were pleased with her assent, and then retreated to the morgue to finish his work. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This left her to think, for the rest of the morning, about Jane. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Maddening indeed</span>
  </em>
  <span>. She moved through paperwork slowly, it being the only thing she let herself do as the silent hours passed by. She refused to conduct science when her brain was this scattered, and it was on these days, no matter how odd he might be, that she felt grateful for Kent and his work ethic - he picked up where she left off without even a hint of a seam, operated as an extension of her arm and her power. Every so often, in between </span>
  <em>
    <span>what-did-I-do-wrong </span>
  </em>
  <span>scenarios and </span>
  <em>
    <span>she-should-apologize </span>
  </em>
  <span>mantras, Maura would glance through the window in her office to him, and be calmed by the constant that was his performance.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The knock on her door startled her away from him, but she did not see whom she expected to standing in the doorway.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey Dr. Isles, got time for a quick lunch?” Detective Nina Holiday asked as she rapped her knuckles on the doorframe. She stood there in yesterday’s work clothes, rumpled and tired after changing into her wedding attire and then back into her slacks and blouse, but carrying a bag from their favorite deli. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura perked up considerably. “Of course! Come in,” she said, and they both moved to the sofa. She studied Nina’s body language, the way she struggled to lower herself to the cushions, no doubt the pain a remnant from standing all day and night, the way her eyes stayed shut just a few milliseconds longer when she finally sat, no doubt her body trying to steal some sleep in a rare moment of peace.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Great. When I looked up at the clock and saw 1 o’clock, I thought I wouldn’t be doing anyone any good with no food in my belly,” said Nina. She handed Maura her usual vegetarian on wheat, and took out her own turkey. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s probably true. Food is fuel,” said Maura.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I tried to get Jane to eat, but she’s… on a mission,” Nina offered quickly. She stole a glance to her companion’s face, and Maura noticed. Not in time to hide the sour look she gave, however. “She being nasty to you, too?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura just bit into her sandwich guiltily and recrossed her legs.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What I don’t understand is she came in this morning tired, but mostly in a good mood. Then she comes back from the break room on a rage bender. It’s got Frankie all rattled.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Hmm,</span>
  </em>
  <span> thought Maura - so the switch had turned on independent of anything she had done. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Good to know</span>
  </em>
  <span>. “She must be at her wit’s end.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Aren’t we all,” Nina said. “I don’t know how she’s doing it. Or how you’re doing it, for that matter. You were kidnapped.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, hopefully Sergeant Korsak returns soon, because I would like to start formulating a more pointed plan of attack with him,” Maura said, “that way none of us gets kidnapped again for a long, long time.” When Nina raised her brow, she resolved to say nothing more on the subject. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nina took the hint, but barreled through anyway. “I hope your plan does not involve either Jane or Frankie going at this all gung ho. They’ve done enough of that already. I think we need strategy, something to draw her out into the light so we can squash her like the roach she is.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I couldn’t agree more,” replied Maura. She let the conversation fall away for a bit, let Nina eat unbothered, let her have a moment or two to gather herself after a long night. “You want to know something strange?” She asked some time later.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A conspiratorial glint appeared in Nina’s eye. “What’s up?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You are the third person in a span of…” Maura paused to glance at her watch, “Twelve hours to tell me to take care of Jane. What does that tell you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That careful is not in her vocabulary?” Nina joked, dabbing her mouth with a napkin.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll say. Neither is congenial,” Maura said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nina smiled softly in response both to the statement and the cloudy hurt in Maura’s eyes. “Listen, Maura. You know she can’t stay mad at you. Especially not for something you didn’t do. She’ll call, or come around. Frankie does the same thing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura nodded in agreement and smiled back, closed lipped and more out of the aforementioned congeniality. Nina was right, but she hated the waiting. And as it turned out, Jane kept her waiting beyond lunch, into the afternoon, and all the way home.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. The Passion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Maura had just slipped the key in the lock of her front door when the honk of a car horn jolted her. She heard an engine lurch and roar into her parking spot, such a contrast to the quiet of her electric vehicle. When she turned, bracing herself to see Alice Sands coming at her, she exhaled at the sight of Jane.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane, who thundered out of the driver’s side and wore a scowl of the rarest order, even for her - to Maura, it looked like murder, and she began to believe for the first time that Jane really was capable of it. The look drew out her own frustration from the day of silence, and she stood firm on her doorstep.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You never texted me today. Not once,” she said, crossing her arms, her bag falling into the crook of her elbow. Jane said nothing, just slammed the car door and started a march toward her. “Do you know how that makes me feel? What that makes me think? You have a murderer after you and you can’t get your head out of your ass long enough to let me know-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura never got out the rest of her tirade, because Jane had crossed the distance between them and kissed her. Hands on her face, lips on her lips, kissed her. She didn’t dwell on the twilight zone feel of the scenario, not when she had to dwell on the wet feeling of Jane against her, moving their lips together, kisses morphing from short and soft to longer and softer, then to even longer, with more pull. Her purse fell to the ground, forgotten; she grasped at the sides of Jane’s belt, shuddered at the weight of it in her hands when a tongue began to glide over her own. She refused to overthink it, decided to trust Jane.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But, just when she started to close her eyes and let go, to revel in the feeling of Jane’s hands so dangerously low on the small of her back, Jane spoke. “I’m gonna walk you backwards and you’re gonna open the door,” the command was little more than a fog against Maura’s lips. She nodded in reply, teeth so delicately latched to the end of Jane’s lower lip - a message. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I haven’t forgotten how you made me feel, what you’ve done. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Jane seemed to acknowledge the fact with a sigh and another kiss. She picked up Maura’s purse. “Then we’re gonna go inside and make sure doors are locked, blinds are drawn, and lights are off.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They executed the plan with precision, as though for years they had entered doors mired in this dance. When Jane kicked the door shut behind her and put her fingerprint on the alarm pad, Maura stopped her from checking the rest of the house. “What is going on?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane sighed. She put her hand to her forehead and then the anger in her eyes was back. She pulled her phone out, scrolled, and then handed it to Maura without a word. Under the heading of an unidentified number with a Maine area code were three photo messages, all of Jane leaving the house that morning. The first of her locking the door, the second of her sipping coffee from a travel mug, the third of her newest routine before she left the house with Maura still inside it: mid sign of the cross, curled finger to her lips, prayer presumably just under her breath. All taken from a fair distance away - at least across the street. “Did she send these to you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Who else would it be? Unless I’ve got another homicidal stalker out there,” Jane nearly shouted as she threw her hands up and shrugged. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura motioned to her lips with her finger. “Hush. Is this why you put extra detail on me this morning?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane opened her eyes wide, as if to say </span>
  <em>
    <span>duh</span>
  </em>
  <span>. “She left me no choice. Clearly it worked </span>
  <em>
    <span>so </span>
  </em>
  <span>well.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is this why you were so upset today?” asked Maura. Jane put her hands on her hips, just above her gun and her badge, and it reminded Maura of the way they had been tangled up in each other just moments before. “And is this why you kissed me out there? To send her a message?” Jane made eye contact with her, told her all she needed to know when she refused to let their gazes fall away, and Maura tried not to let her happiness turn into bubbliness. “You’re going to go through with it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane thought a moment, as though she struggled with the decision even now. “Yes,” she said. When Maura clapped with glee and kissed her cheek, she winced, and tempered her agreement. “For now. If there is any inkling of danger, </span>
  <em>
    <span>any, </span>
  </em>
  <span>I am pulling the plug.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course,” said Maura, with an enthusiastic nod.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane looked much less than enthused. She looked pained. “Yeah, course. Everything’s gonna be just peachy. God, why is this my life?” She cursed and crossed her arms, fists down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura took pity on her then. “Would beer help?” She walked to the fridge, already knowing the answer and not bothering to wait for it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If nothing else, I can take comfort in the fact that you know me,” Jane gave it to her anyway. She heaved out a sigh and plopped her tired bones onto the sofa, and when Maura stood in front of her with a bottle of her signature draught, she took it gratefully.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know you better than most,” Maura said. She sat down, too, no drink in hand. “That’s why this will work.” Her hand found Jane’s on the cushion between them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, Frankie gave me the news today that they pretty much lost her, so I hope you’re right.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“They didn’t check around here? The pictures would seem to indicate that she’s very close by.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tried that as soon as I got them. That’s where they were this morning when you came in: I had just sent them out when you came up to my desk. There’s nobody out here except soccer moms and CEOs, Maura.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, what about the phone she sent them from? There has to be-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Burner phone. She’s a drug dealer and a wannabe cop; she knows all about that shit.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well,” Maura paused and took a moment to look over to her best friend. Jane sat at the corner seat, legs spread wide and her back against the sofa. She drank from her beer with practiced ease, but her tell was her eyes - she looked into corners of the house, at objects, not at Maura, and the only time she refused eye contact was if she were under duress. Now surely counted as such. “Maybe we should bring everyone over, then. Tell them our plan so that they can be ready to catch her should anything we do draw her out.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nuh-uh. No can do - we’re not telling anyone about this. Not yet, anyway,” said Jane with a shake of her head. Her hair fell around her face and Maura’s heart melted just a bit.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why not? I thought you wanted to go through with it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I do. And if we tell anyone, Korsak is not going to let me even think about it. He doesn’t want me anywhere near this, Maura.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And for good reason. But I know you better, remember? I know that there’s no way you </span>
  <em>
    <span>won’t </span>
  </em>
  <span>do something. That is why this is an acceptable compromise - you’re letting me help you. Will you let them help you, too?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No. Absolutely not,” as Jane spoke, Maura wondered if there was more than just tactics behind her vehemency. “They won’t budge. I got shot at in front of my Sergeant’s wedding, for Christ’s sake. They don’t even want to let me out of the house. That’s why this has to be covert, and quick.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, I see your point. Then I am going to take your lead on this one. What do you suggest that we do?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Open the curtains, have sex in the window?” said Jane through a shrug. She looked over the lip of her beer bottle and quirked an eyebrow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jane!” Maura exclaimed, flushing and putting her hand to her chest in scandal. Jane laughed and the hoarseness in her voice suddenly made Maura thirsty. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m kidding. Kidding,” she replied, still chuckling. “But that </span>
  <em>
    <span>would </span>
  </em>
  <span>work.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I suppose you’re right. But then your colleagues would have to arrest us for indecent exposure. And that would defeat the purpose - we’re trying to get her in jail, not end up there ourselves.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I dunno, Maura. I don’t really date all that often, you know? And when I do, it’s a shit show. We also don’t know if she’s watching me all the time, or what she’s going to see. We don’t even know if she saw that little stunt I pulled out there - I was just pissed off,” said Jane, turning back to some corner of the living room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, I should start by telling you that kissing your significant other because you’re mad at someone else is not very romantic,” Maura offered with her own sly smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was Jane’s turn to blush. “You’re not my significant other.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She thinks I am. At least, that’s the point,” said Maura, and the defensiveness bled through a little more than she would have liked, “to make her think I am. So it won’t work if you only come to me when you’re angry. Or if you shut me out all day, considering she probably has access to your texts.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was a barb for earlier behavior, and Jane knew it. “I’m sorry. I am.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know. Make it up to me by taking this seriously?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane nodded. “Yeah.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, we should approach this like any other case - determine triggers, facts, points of reference-” Maura began.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No we shouldn’t,” Jane interrupted, and it caught Maura by surprise. She crossed her hands in her lap, waiting for the clarification. “No way we treat this like any other case. It’s got to be believable, remember? You’re not the norm, Maura. Not to me. That’s gotta shine through if anyone’s gonna believe this.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She loved Jane. Truly </span>
  <em>
    <span>loved </span>
  </em>
  <span>her. And she allowed herself the indulgence of the tachycardia, the warmth that came from hearing Jane talk about her so… vulnerably. “You’re right, Jane.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know how to bring that out, though,” Jane was careful with her words; she wanted to get these next few sentiments right, and Maura could tell. “You’re my best friend. How do I make it seem like you’re just the person I’m dating?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura wanted to be surprised by the statement, but Jane’s atrocious dating track record didn’t let her be. She just smiled and moved a hand to her friend’s knee. “That’s the beauty of it all. Me being your best friend already made her angry enough to kidnap me,” Jane winced at the reminder. “It’s the idea of you not only being my best friend, but being in love with me on top of that, that will throw her over the edge. Don’t try to treat me like your other relationships. Treat me like me - remember the texts I read to you last night? Take that and do it all the time. Then pretend that you want to sleep with me,” Jane scoffed at the last part, but Maura surmised that it was to hide the warmth on her cheeks, “which shouldn’t be too hard, given your display outside.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I was mad, alright? I wasn’t thinkin’,” mumbled Jane into the mouth of her beer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then don’t think,” Maura countered. “You are so much better at just doing, anyway.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ok,” said Jane, sighing. “Ok. We’re gonna try this out, but if we don’t see any results, we’re gonna go back to my way.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Which is you, as the bait, alone.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Damn right.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, then I am going to have to make sure that this doesn’t fail,” Maura asserted. “Now. Should we get started?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah. So, Police Woman, what did you have in mind?” Jane got up and began to rummage for food, and Maura went to follow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s a reference to something, but I don’t know what. What are you looking for?” she asked, hovering behind Jane’s back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Angie Dickinson? Undercover master? And I’m looking for food. Haven’t eaten since this morning,” when Jane grabbed the tupperware full of cheesy pasta, Maura grabbed it from her and put it back. “Hey!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura paid the exclamation no mind. She found the way that Jane pulled up against her endearing, even though it was to try and take back the food. “Let me make something for dinner. Something fresh, with vegetables,” she said as she took out stir fry ingredients. “And I honestly hadn’t thought that far ahead. I didn’t want to step on your toes by planning without you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Really? Since when?” snarked Jane, who popped a broccoli floret in her mouth. “You love stepping on toes. Especially mine.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura’s lips twitched in a tiny smile as she pulled out a wok. “This is different; I know how notoriously touchy you are about romance.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m touchier about people comin’ after you, Maura,” said Jane, and it made Maura pull her closer by the t-shirt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Help me,” she demanded. She kept her voice soft enough and light enough that Jane took the knife offered to her with no qualms.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“With the dinner or with the planning?” Jane asked, chopping green onions, celery, and carrots.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Both, I suppose. Judging by the way you kissed me, I would guess that you think loud and intense is the way to go.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane inhaled the smell of food before she replied. “I told you I wasn’t thinking. We should start slow, otherwise it’s not gonna look real. I think conservative might be best here, considering it could be our last chance. She’s gone ghost.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You think conservative would be best because you don’t really want me involved,” Maura said and Jane cleared her guilty throat. “But I happen to agree with you. Slow should be the way to go.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane snickered. “I’ve always thought so.” Maura refused to acknowledge the innuendo with anything more than an amused glare. She tossed the contents of her pan with precision, watched Jane’s torso extend and twist when she grabbed two plates from the cupboard next to the sink, thought about obliques and recti abdominii. They sat at the table, Maura at the head and Jane at her side, spearing broccoli with her fork. “I don’t think I should stay here tonight, for one,” she said around the food in her mouth.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because it would be too fast?” Maura asked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah. You should text me. We’ll start there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shouldn’t you text me? It will make her angrier if </span>
  <em>
    <span>you </span>
  </em>
  <span>want </span>
  <em>
    <span>me.” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Maura heard Angela’s plea in her mind, to keep Jane at the house, but kept quiet on it: too much at once and Jane would bolt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re right,” Jane said. She looked at her half-eaten plate and Maura thought she saw pain in her eyes. Regret, almost. “I’m afraid, you know? If something happens to you…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It won’t,” it was a half-lie, and Maura consoled herself with that fact. “Because you’ll be around. You’re naturally flirtatious and kind. Actually, you’re doubly so with me. So, don’t think of it as anything extra-risky or out of the ordinary. No matter what happens, you and I will be doing it together, and you and I can move mountains together, Jane. You know that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane nodded. She was quiet, and they ate the rest of their meal in silence, but Maura’s statement seemed to have done a whole hell of a lot of convincing. She got up, took her and Maura’s plates to the dishwasher, and regained the swagger in her step; her hips dropped and rose, alternated in time with her feet, and Maura counted it as a metronome of sexuality and solace. </span>
  <em>
    <span>The old Jane. The determined Jane. </span>
  </em>
  <span>“I’m gonna go. But you’re gonna walk me out, and we’re gonna kiss again, just in case she didn’t catch our little stunt last time. Is that ok with you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane asked sweet permission, and Maura felt hot collusion in response. She nodded, hand on Jane’s back as they walked to the door. “Call me when you get home, so I know you made it safely?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I thought you said nothing was gonna happen,” Jane whispered with a wink, but the unspoken nervousness ran deep between them. She shrugged on her coat and nodded to Maura one last time, and Maura took comfort in the new fire in Jane’s eyes, in her small smirk.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just go, Detective,” Maura shook her head and opened the door for her friend, who stepped out into the October chill and turned - she saw the vulnerability in the way she rubbed her scarred palms together, the way she half-expected Maura to forgo it all and just shut the door behind her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura did no such thing, however. She pulled Jane close, hands on her neck, thumb stroking her jaw, and kissed her. It wasn’t the fever of before, but the reassurance they both needed. Jane closed her eyes and slouched into the embrace, letting Maura wrap her arms around her back, wrapping her arms around Maura in return. Their tongues met again, the kiss deepened, Maura felt hands drooping lower with each passing moment. “Please remember to call me,” she whispered when they broke apart, still close enough to feel the curve of Jane’s lips for every syllable spoken. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane nodded, ran a hand through her hair and took a step back. Maura noticed the ballooning chest, the fidget of car keys around her index finger, the squint and hard line of her mouth - all signs that Jane was struggling to control herself.  “Yeah. Soon as I get home.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura watched her walk toward her cruiser and get in. She tried not to smile, and she tried not to be afraid.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. The Play</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Now that I think about it, I don’t know if TJ’s gonna like this color,” when Angela held up the blanket she crocheted, Maura, now washed up and ready for bed, tore herself away from the page in her lap. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She looked down to the blanket covering her legs on the sofa, then studied the work in progress. “What’s wrong with Royal Blue? I think it’s distinctive, mature.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Me too. But that baby likes purple, and pastels,” said Angela.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura shrugged as though she were considering the point. “I suppose that’s true. But, when you asked him what color he wanted, he said blue. I wouldn’t worry about it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, maybe I’ll make him two,” after that, Angela went back to hooking her yarn and rocking her chair. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They spent many nights this way, and Maura counted it a blessing that the woman across from her didn’t bring up their conversation from the morning before, or the fact that they were the only ones in the house. Whenever chaos came looking, she took refuge in routine, and the normalcy of Angela next to her - content not to talk but to simply be -  pacified her. No matter how much the two of them wanted Jane with them, it was normal for Jane to be on her own. It was normal for Jane to want space and time alone to decompress.</span>
</p>
<p><em><span>Just got home. </span></em><span>And yet, as if on cue, Maura’s phone screen lit up with the incoming text from Jane. She put down her glass of wine and copy of The International Journal of Language and Law</span> <span>to answer.</span></p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Did you make a stop? It usually doesn’t take you an hour and a half. </span>
  </em>
  <span>She replied, pulling her phone close to her, suddenly very conscious of Angela in the chair just close enough to her left shoulder. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Sorta. took a shower and made sure everything was on lockdown here.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura’s eyes shifted to her left and back again. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Why aren’t I hearing your voice, then? I believe I asked you to call.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Gimme a minute.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s getting late, and I’ve got to review some things for work,” Maura announced, shooting up from her spot. She didn’t bother to wait for a response before taking care of her glass in the kitchen and then folding up her blanket. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, at 8:30? Alright. Are you ok?” Angela raised an eyebrow when Maura hustled to grab her case files and a few printouts from the coffee table; Maura cursed herself for speaking before she looked at the clock.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, I’m just… so tired,” she half-truthed again. Tired didn’t even begin to cover it, but if she wasn’t careful, Angela would also see the pep in her step: one she couldn’t really explain, even to herself. “Good night,” she opted for that instead, hugging Angela from behind with one arm and shuffling up the stairs.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Good night!” Angela called back, but Maura barely heard her as she shut the door to her room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her sanctuary.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It smelled of lavender and peppermint, her essential oils combination for the fall, and the soft glow of candle warmer lamps on each nightstand brought calm to the bedsheets. One stand had various titles on anatomy and poetry stacked near the light, while the other was mostly bare, containing only a watch of Jane’s and a container of Vick’s vaporub. Even that, the mismatch of their things, brought a sense of peace to Maura as she placed the files in her hand on the vanity near the door. Of course it had all been a ruse, an excuse for some privacy, and she let herself inhale the security of the abode as she undressed for the evening and awaited Jane’s call.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It always took a little longer than she expected, but she would have it no other way. When her screen finally lit up with a photo of Jane’s smiling face, she had tucked herself in, and turned out all the lights.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey,” said Jane, before Maura could even get out her greeting.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey yourself,” was all that Maura said back. She let her head hit the pillow and closed her eyes - it felt marvelous, the way her muscles went lax and her brain quieted. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know, I don’t know what I can trust myself to say to you right now,” Jane explained. Maura’s eyes shot open - she had known Jane long enough, heard her use the same line with enough colleagues to know that such a statement was code - </span>
  <em>
    <span>I don’t know if we are being listened to right now. We have to be careful</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In other words, they would be getting their first real chance to play the game. “You don’t have to be nervous. You’ve known me for a long time and you know how I feel about you.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>I understood you; you can count on me.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s true. I’m pretty darn irresistible, aren’t I?” Jane said, and Maura could hear the smirk on her face. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She scoffed, but couldn’t help mirroring it back. “I could argue, but I’ve been here for five years, so clearly I agree.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s… been a wild five.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura shifted under the covers, rolled onto her side. “The best five. You left a small tub of Vicks VapoRub on the nightstand last week. Are you getting sick?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane laughed. “No. That’s an Italian cure-all. I use it when I can’t sleep. Ma says it’s also good for stress, and aching joints.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, I don’t know-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ssh. Don’t ruin the magic. I’ll pick it up next time I come around,” said Jane, cutting her off. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s alright. Leave it. You’re over often enough anyway.” Neither of them spoke for a little while after that, though Maura heard the mood shift in the sound of creaking bedsprings over the phone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Things are changing, Maura. I can feel it. Like we’re on the edge of something big,” this was real-Jane speaking, real-Jane suddenly sounded like she contemplated jumping into the Charles to save someone, and it didn’t have anything to do with fake-Jane and her amorous intentions. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura decided that only real-Maura could assuage real-Jane. “Perhaps. But no matter what changes, I’ll be standing next to you,” after she spoke, there was silence. “Jane? Do you know that?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah,” the reply was quiet, but compliant. “God, how did this turn so depressing?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They shared a laugh. “You’re tired. This is what you do when you’re tired - you get morose,” said Maura.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe. Either way, let’s change the subject. What’re you wearing?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nothing,” the question was a joke, but Maura had answered it matter-of-factly, as though it were obvious - hadn’t she said this more than a handful of times? She didn’t sleep in clothes when she slept alone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Jane coughed and cleared her throat, she realized perhaps she’d been too literal. “Well, I’m sure you look great in it.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>This was new. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Lover-Jane apparently didn’t shy away from sexuality the way real-Jane did, though they seemed to have the same initial discomfort. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think so,” was all Maura could reply. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You were right, you know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“About what?” suddenly she was supremely interested in what Jane had to say - she propped herself up on her elbow and crossed her legs under the sheets.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Me, bein’ tired,” a yawn punctuated the statement. “Can we talk in the mornin’?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Deflation was sudden and surprising. “Of course. Thank you for calling me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No problem. Text me when you get in.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You plan to be in before me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I plan to be in before the sun every day until this bitch goes down.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can understand that. Just try to rest, alright? You’re no good to anyone sleep-deprived,” Maura cautioned.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane seemed to take it in stride, to accept the truth of it. “I know. See you tomorrow.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Bye, Jane.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After that, sleep came and went in pockets for Maura. There were hours that she tossed, and then hours that she turned, even a few where she lay still and awake. Part of her wanted to call Jane back, to tell her she couldn’t sleep, to ask her the thousand questions that gripped her as soon as they hung up. The plan, new as it was, seemed to be going smoothly. But how long would they need to pretend? How much would they need to show? Without any response from Alice, they could only guess, and Maura hated guessing. The moment they apprehended Alice Sands, dead or alive, couldn’t arrive soon enough. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When the day’s alarm buzzed through the room, though, she tapped it with a sigh. She moved through her shower and the styling of her outfit on autopilot, taking no time at all after years of practice to emerge flawless in a purple dress and heels. She clicked and clacked about the kitchen with a travel mug in one hand and a lunch bag in the other, letting practice override impulse. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m on my way, </span>
  </em>
  <span>read her text to Jane, the one she had sent countless times in their friendship.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The drive to work was much the same, chilly morning air biting against her skin as she beeped herself through security and down the elevator - planned, known. In the precious few seconds a downward trip gave her, she closed her eyes and willed the tiredness away. Maura always practiced mind over matter, and often, it worked. If she stuck to routine as much as possible, the few aberrant pieces of her life were easier to control. So, she sought refuge in the morgue, cognizant of the whirlwind of decisions and actions of the day before, knowing that as soon as she walked through those doors, started the first autopsy of her itinerary, it would fall away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nothing stood in her footpath from elevator to office door, and she was almost home free - until she looked up and spotted Jane Rizzoli, flowers in hand, waiting for her in front of the massive desk she called home.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. The Policy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>We're nearly halfway there :O</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“What are these for?” Maura asked as she took the autumn bouquet held out for her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane wore a closed-lips smile and all black. Her outfit matched her hair and made her coffee-brown eyes simmer into something darker. “For yesterday. Sorry I was an ass,” she said as she rubbed the knuckles of her right fist into the scar of her left palm. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re good at this, you know,” said Maura. She set her bag down on the desk behind them but stayed in front of Jane. She inhaled the scent of the flowers and some of the tension that had been building left her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“At messing up? I know, I don’t mean-” Jane went to explain herself, but Maura put a finger to her lips. Jane smirked against it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“At apologizing to me. At being handsome while you do it,”  she replied. With a tug on the front of Jane’s shirt she said, “it’s not very fair of you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane narrowed her brow and scrunched her nose. “That’s a man word.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Handsome?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I beg to differ. I prefer not to let men dominate one half of the language; you shouldn’t either,” Maura said, “any new developments this morning?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No,” at the word, uttered in a male voice, they both turned to the doorway, surprised to see Frankie Rizzoli leaning against it. “Been lookin’ for you all mornin’, Janie.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And here I am,” said Jane, crossing her arms. Maura set her flowers down and went to work on two cups of coffee for them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You wanna sit down?” He tossed his head in the direction of the sofa in the middle of the room, and she shrugged to humor him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What did you want me for?” Jane asked. She ran a hand through her hair and then after a few moments, accepted the coffee that Maura held out to her with a grateful gulp.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Frankie did the same. “Thanks, Maura. So, you know how you sent me and Nina those pictures of you outside the house?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I do,” said Jane, prodding him to get to the point with a hand wave. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura tried not to laugh as she took a seat next to Jane and put her hand on a wrist to calm her. She loved when the Rizzolis referred to her home as ‘the house’, and she loved it when they entered her space like it was their own. She chalked it up to never having familiarity in her life before. “Did you find anything on where that might have been taken?” she asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No. We organized a more complete search of the surrounding area - the whole street, and there was no sign of her. Nina even tried triangulating the location based on what was in the photo and the coordinates of Maura’s place,” he said. He sighed like he’d run a marathon just before. Maura catalogued edema of the nasojugal folds, dilation of the conjunctival vessels over the sclera, a ruffled blazer and wrinkled shirt - his body manifested all of their inner turmoil.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So how did I - hell, how did Reynolds miss a pedestrian snappin’ pictures of me? Or how did he miss a car pullin’ up and hanging out long enough to do it?” asked Jane. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Who knows where she took the pictures from, Jane; they were grainy. If she has a camera lens specifically for long distances, or a drone, she could have been in a tree or even on another street,” said Maura.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane huffed and rubbed a hand over her face. “I’m gonna need more coffee than this.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Frankie sipped his, savoring it like it might be the last cup he would get. “We can expand, Janie. But the chances of finding worthwhile evidence while we do that go down the bigger our search radius is. I know Korsak doesn’t want you anywhere near this, but you’re the best we’ve got and I ain’t above admitting that I need your brain. You got any ideas? </span>
  <em>
    <span>Anything?</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Maura watched with fascination as Frankie, the middle Rizzoli, always anxious to stand out and prove himself, begged for his big sister’s help. She had known him for half a decade, and yet, this may have been the first real time, outside of their parents’ divorce, that he admitted any kind of deference to Jane. She also noted the way that not only her own pulse rose, but Jane’s as well, when he asked - would Jane tell him about their plan? Would they continue to keep it a secret?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alice made them all desperate.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He at his desk right now?” Jane asked him. At Frankie’s nod, she stood. “Ok, well, let’s get up there and try and figure something else out, then. Gimme a minute to talk to Maura?” So, they would stay quiet for at least another day.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sure,” said Frankie, waving at the two of them and leaving his mug on the table. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane finished hers and grabbed his to take to the morgue sink. Maura stopped her and held out her hands. “I’m going in there to start an autopsy anyway,” she explained.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thanks. So, I haven’t received any new pictures this morning,” said Jane. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura shrugged. “Is that good or bad?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She watched the drum of nervous fingers against a thigh with delight. Jane’s long bones on display made her feel safe, protected, despite the doubt in her question. “I don’t know. It means either that I pissed her off or that she’s not watching me all the time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Either could be good, either could be bad,” said Maura. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah but the not knowing is the problem. I’m gonna give this maybe two, three more days, and if we don’t hear from her, I’m gonna pull the plug.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s fair,” Maura replied as she followed Jane’s gaze to her chest and back to her eyes. “Do you still want to take things slow?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Definitely,” said Jane, and for a moment, Maura imagined what their conversation would sound like to an outsider. Her insides grew warm, she assumed because of the thought of sharing something with her best friend that no one else was privy to. She pushed down the desire to imagine that they were indeed discussing what it sounded like they were discussing. “She won’t take the bait if it’s too obvious.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I trust you,” Maura assured her. “Now, go formulate a plan B. I have work to do.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, Doctor,” Jane smirked, and kissed Maura’s cheek as a final good morning. Maura blushed, dismissed it as a result of the Italianness of the gesture, so expressive. Jane marched through the hall and toward the elevator, giving her one last look before the ride up, and Maura smiled back at her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When the doors closed, however, it was time to work. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She grabbed a pair of black scrubs from the sanitized bin by the washing equipment and took it into the small morgue locker room just past the remains freezer. Each action had an established order of steps - first, remove clothing and hang it under the plaque that spelled out her name. Then, step into her drawstring pants, right leg first, left leg last, before tugging the top over her head. She would pull on her white lab coat over that only if she were going to start paperwork before her autopsy, but this morning, she chose to dive right in and forego the coat. Lastly, she would pull socks over her feet, right foot first again, and step into her comfortable shoes. Her hair went up into a clip behind her head, and once she pushed the protective goggles up the bridge of her nose, she would begin.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The protocol for the sudden death on table three proved no different. The decedent was a young male, white, 33, seemingly in good health until his fiancee found him next to her in bed one morning, not breathing. Kent had pronounced him on the scene, and due to the empty opiate prescription bottle on his nightstand and his blue skin, here she stood - just a clipboard and pen between them. She noted his color, jotted down a few notes about the edema of his feet, spoke into her recorder about the possible removal of fluid from his eyes, brown like Jane’s. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She would cut into him with grace, the way her mentors had trained her, with a little added Maura flair. Her index finger tapped a steadying rhythm onto the the bridge of the number 10 scalpel as she thought about traveling the hills and valleys of the decedent’s musclescape, the same tune Jane had tapped onto her own thighs - it was one that had been stuck in her head lately, one she could not forget. It was the absence of sound but the presence of motion, and she could think of no better way to describe her interactions with Jane as of late: where words failed them, or failed to appear, touch and motion took their place. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As though on cue, her iPhone pinged on the table next to her. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Guess the van’s plates were stolen. The original car was dumped at a pick-a-part place in Jamaica Plain. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura’s lips twitched up at the sight - Jane was feeding Alice information about the case through iMessage, if in fact she could see their chat. She set down her blade, removed her gloves, and started typing a reply. </span>
  <em>
    <span>We all could have seen that coming. She’s stealthy, Jane. She wouldn’t let a license plate be her undoing.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Yeah you’re right. I just want to crawl in bed when this is all over. Sleep for years. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Just sleep? ;) </span>
  </em>
  <span>Maura knew the reply was a little forward, but Jane wanted results, and she wanted to help get those results. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She expected a bashful response, if she got one at all. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Don’t tempt me</span>
  </em>
  <span> was definitely not on the short list of Jane answers she expected. She blushed, but Jane had over a decade’s worth of undercover experience under her very sexy belt, and she knew exactly what to say and when in these situations.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Why shouldn’t I? </span>
  </em>
  <span>Maura typed as her heart raced. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’ve definitely earned the right to.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It rattled the cage in her chest when she saw that Jane replied almost instantly. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Fair enough. Come up here and we’ll talk about it in person.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was so predatory, but in such a good way. Maura had to shoot off a quick </span>
  <em>
    <span>After my autopsy </span>
  </em>
  <span>and then put the phone away in order to regroup. Jane would have to wait.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Their play invigorated her, confused her, and this drove her to peel back layer after layer of dead man. The viscera under the ribcage seemed healthy, normal. When she opened the stomach, nothing except a breath mint and some remnants of a sandwich appeared, no pills, no alarming smells or sights. When she clipped away at his ribcage, however, she saw it, the silent thing that had taken his life away: an enlarged heart. Unlike the Jane rhythm of before, his own had failed him, no doubt erratic in his final days. Suddenly his swollen feet and lack of oxygen made sense, and other signs which Kent thought might have indicated an overdose pointed to the real problem. Cardiomegaly was not often the cause of death in the cases she oversaw, but she took some refuge in the fact that she could tell his widow that he had died peacefully in his sleep. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She realized then that she would have Jane die no other way. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The epiphany grasped her and shook her, so hard that tears threatened at the back of her eyes. Jane, her Jane, all-black-wearing, invincible-seeming, had someone after her who did not want her alive. The woman had burned her apartment down, shut down her bank accounts, put her watch in a dead woman’s stomach, and tried to assassinate her at one of her best friends’ wedding. That </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>happened, Alice </span>
  <em>
    <span>really </span>
  </em>
  <span>existed, and wanted Jane to pay for some perceived slight nearly 20 years old. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And Maura, Maura wanted Jane to live, just as much as Alice wanted her to suffer. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Suffer. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Suddenly Maura remembered her own plight, her own kidnapping. She reaffixed her gaze on all the other things Alice had done through that lens, and it gave her pause. As soon as she paused, however, she had to abandon that train of thought, because when she closed her locker door, Kent appeared right behind it. “Kent!” she gasped, putting her hand to her chest and stepping back. “You </span>
  <em>
    <span>have </span>
  </em>
  <span>to stop that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Right, sorry,” he said, distractedly enough for her to imagine that he wasn’t sorry and he wouldn’t be stopping. But then he swallowed and shoved his hands in his pockets to keep from pacing. “I, uh, I need to show you something.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright,” she said, dragging out the vowel in caution. “What is it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The mail came in today, and I received a package,” he said. His obfuscation irked her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You get packages all the time. Why is this noteworthy?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’ll see.” They walked through the morgue together and into his desk area. “I never get personal parcels sent here. But, sometimes other, smaller labs send in their samples this way, so I proceeded as such, even though it’s not postmarked, like it was just dropped in the box.” he explained as he sat in his chair and pulled the package from behind his computer to show her. It had no return address, but the cardboard was clean, not contorted from being tossed around by mail carriers or the sender. “But when I opened it, I saw this.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>This </span>
  </em>
  <span>was a pair of hair samples marked with her name - birthdate provided. It also included copies of Jane’s life insurance policy, no doubt plucked from her condo before the fire. Still on it were post-it arrows where Jane was supposed to sign for the update, that update being the addition of Maura’s name as beneficiary. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. The Privacy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm pretty sure every chapter from here on out is my favorite.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“We’re going up to the bullpen, now,” Maura ordered. She snatched the box from Kent’s desk and her heels clacked against the tile in a song of power and professionalism. She marched to the elevator with Kent not far behind, and when she heard the ding for the third floor, she steeled her nerves. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She faltered when she saw Jane perk at the sound of her walking toward them, and when Jane wheeled around with a wicked simper, Maura all but crumbled. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, that autopsy took awhile,” Jane said before she noticed Maura’s face. She wore that smirk that no-one but Maura got to see, used that voice that no-one but Maura got to hear, until Kent stepped out from behind his boss and his boss frowned. “What’s wrong?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Korsak and Frankie, having a conversation at the Sergeant’s desk, turned toward them. Maura glanced down at the box in her hands. “Kent received something in his stack of mail today. You need to see it,” she spoke only to Jane, walked toward her desk, put the parcel down and then put a hand on the back of Jane’s chair. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The rest of the group gathered around as Jane looked from Maura’s face back to the things in front of her. On top were the two coin envelopes marked with Maura’s name. “What is this?” Jane asked, holding the envelopes up to Kent’s general area and waving them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“They are hair samples,” he answered, not testy enough to lead Jane on one of his verbal roundabouts, at least, not when Alice was still at large. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mine,” said Maura through a hard stare.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What the hell?” said Korsak. He pulled up a chair, straightened his tie against his shirt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Where did she get this?” Jane nearly whispered her next question.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Now, Detective, we don’t know if this is from Sands. It wasn’t postmarked, and there is no return information,” Kent said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Bull </span>
  <em>
    <span>shit</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Kent. Where did she get it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Um-“</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Look at the paperwork under it, Jane,” Maura intervened before Kent careened completely off-track. She leaned her hamstrings against the grain of Jane’s desk while crossing her arms over her chest. “It’s clear she got it from your apartment. Who knows how many hairbrushes I had there, or how many showers I took. It would have been easy to find.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane pulled out the life insurance policy revision and grunted. She  made eye-contact with Maura, worried and visceral, and Maura just nodded. “Jesus Christ. They went in there a lot before she had that bitch light the place up.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What is that, Janie?” asked Frankie, who sensed the unspoken exchange between his sister and her friend, and Maura knew - she didn’t dare to face him, because she knew her face would give him all the opening he needed to corner her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s a revision of my life insurance policy,” said Jane, sighing and rubbing her temples, “I uh, I named Maura my beneficiary.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>None of them could look at Frankie then, but none of them needed to: they could feel the tension volleying between the siblings. “What do you mean? I was your beneficiary,” he said, raising his voice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And every day, you’re working more and more in homicide. You got as good of a chance of dyin’ as me,” Jane shot back, shaking the papers at him, “who does that leave, huh? Ma, who’s twenty years older than me? Tommy, who can’t even balance a checkbook?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Frankie stayed silent; Maura watched his masseter twitch under the skin of his jaw.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maura’ll make sure that, god forbid, if anything happens to me, everyone’ll get their fair share. It ain’t much, Frankie, but I trust her to do what’s right by our family,” finished Jane, and her brother held up his hands in acquiescence. She put a hand on Maura’s knee, and Maura put her own hand on top of it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend, Maura-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t worry about it, Frankie. Clearly we have other things to focus on.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, what I want to know is where she pulled that hair from,” Korsak said, stepping in. Immediately, he began to delegate. “Kent, can you figure that out for me? How old it is? If it really does belong to Maura? And we need to examine that paper. See if there’s any fingerprints on there besides Jane’s.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course,” Kent nodded, and took the box from Jane. “I’ll get right on it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And Frankie and I have a possible lead on Eric, Alice’s son,” Korsak grabbed his blazer from the back of his chair, “we were about to stake him out.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Perfect. Let me just talk to Maura for a sec and I’ll catch up with you guys in the parking garage,” Jane said, standing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh no, kid. You take all the time you need because you’re staying here and waiting for the first possible sign of results from Kent,” Korsak shook his head and shushed her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“C’mon, Korsak! I’m dying here twiddlin’ my thumbs!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No way. KiKi’d kill me if I let anything happen to you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t be too far behind her, Sergeant,” said Maura, lifting herself up, walking over to him and turning to Jane, “you’re staying here. Bring your paperwork to my office; we can talk there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane’s lips curled at her own uselessness, but Maura glared at her, and she complied. “Keep me very, very posted.” said Jane.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know I will,” said Korsak as he walked toward the elevator, happy for the compromise.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As soon as he was gone, Maura stood in front of her best friend. “What do you think that means?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She knows, Maura. She saw, either our little display on your doorstep, or our texts. She saw and she’s letting us know that she knows.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But why send it to Kent?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This puzzled Jane for a moment. She thought, and then her eyes lit up. “They’ve been watching my mail like a hawk since the condo fire. And after that coffee bomb incident, they’ve been watching yours, too. But Kent is just an AME.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura nodded. “And he would for sure show it to us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Or at least to you,” said Jane, and suddenly Maura gulped with revelation. If Jane were a target of the cryptic message of the package, it would be as a secondary one. But, Maura, Maura would definitely see it. Maura was the intended recipient. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s working,” she marveled aloud.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s workin’,” Jane affirmed. Her pupils took over her eyes and her nostrils flared with the scent of a hunt. Maura took another step forward, wanting to bask a little in the display, reveling in how it sped up the beats of her heart and thickened the flow of her blood away from her head. She crossed her legs when Jane spoke again. “We need to figure out our next plan of attack. Now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They paced back to the elevator, Jane behind Maura so closely that Maura could feel her badge against the swell of her backside, Jane’s fingertips on her hip as she ushered her inside. “You seem to know what you want to do next,” was all that she said as they descended.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No clue,” replied Jane, “I’m just high because we’ve got a real chance.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura smirked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t say it,” Jane admonished her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Say what, Jane?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That you told me so,” they talked and walked straight to her office, exhilarated and impervious to their surroundings. Jane slammed the door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I won’t, even though I did,” Maura countered. She sat in a chair adjacent to where Jane parked herself on the sofa. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well then, smartypants, any ideas on where to go from here?” Jane crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, we don’t know which she is responding to, the texts and calls, or the kiss,” Maura replied thoughtfully. “It would be safest to continue with both phone communication and physical displays until we figure out which is most effective.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane smirked, and her eyes were still a little wild. The chase always looked so good on her. “Ok, so we continue to make out on your porch?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura shook her head. “That worries me. It’s too private - we should try somewhere more public.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane soured. “I dunno, Maura. We’re not really together. People’ll start asking questions if they see us doing that stuff out and about.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura’s heart sank a little, but she pushed that aside for later - she, too, saw potential pitfalls. “I suppose you’re right. If someone sees and Korsak or Frankie get wind of it, we would have to come clean, and that would be the end of it.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Jane said. She put her elbows on her knees and scratched the back of her head. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura smoothed the wrinkles of her dress, and breathed in. A plan formed. “I might have an idea,” she said, “and it could escalate things.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane took her hand. “Yeah?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We could… take a long lunch,” she replied, reddening.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane, however, remained ignorant. “So she gets jealous of my chicken parm?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura rolled her eyes, but turned her hand up to feel their palms together. “No. I swear, for a detective, sometimes you can be so clueless.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We would go eat, just to be seen. Then, as people do on long lunches, we decide to go to a hotel,” Maura finished.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane clicked her tongue. “So that she thinks we’re having sex.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Exactly.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane shrugged. “That sounds good to me. Public, little risk, very suggestive.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Good. I know where we should go.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ok… When?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tomorrow?” Maura suggested.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That works,” said Jane.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Not long after, Nina Holiday appeared in the doorway, flushed and out-of-breath. “Jane,” she breathed, and Maura flinched as Jane immediately sprung up from her seat. “He tried to run again.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane was up and walking to the door before Nina continued. “Shit.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He’s asking for you. I guess he’ll only talk to you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Call me, please,” Maura called out as they walked away, and Jane waved in assent.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At 11 PM, still without any sign of Jane, without the call that she had requested, Maura grasped the lip of her countertop in stress. Even her slow sips of wine, the robust tang of it on her lips couldn’t displace her worry. She knew rationally of course, that if anything had happened, those with Jane at the station would have called, and that if she had decided to go outside, to chase someone or something, she herself would have called. At least, if she wanted to come home to any semblance of domestic peace. Maura smirked at that last thought.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When she heard the turn of keys in the door, she half-expected to see Angela walk through, but when Jane sighed and hung her fall coat on the rack, Maura’s body expressed gratitude that it wasn’t Angela: the tension uncoiled from her belly and she beckoned Jane closer. “It’s late.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know; I’m sorry,” Jane said, her voice hoarse and gruff. “He wanted to fuck with me. Wanted to make sure no one else was in the room or listening just to tell me that I was going to regret what I was doing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And what was he referring to? Did he clarify anything about what his mother sent to Kent?” Maura whispered back as Jane stepped toward her. She offered her half-finished glass, and Jane took a gulp from it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Never said, never clarified,” she said. “We spent hours with him, just for that shit.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I really am sorry, Jane. I know that this can’t be anything but torturous,” Maura said. She rubbed a hand up and down Jane’s arm, took note of the muscle there and how warm it felt, even through her blazer. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane didn’t respond. She stepped closer to breathe in Maura’s air, air that Maura freely gave. Her eyes were red and her shoulders were taut, and she had determination written across the knot in her brow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She kissed Maura while no-one watched.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. The Pattern</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The Rizzoli-Isles lunch date had been postponed due to a nugget of information Jane had gleaned from her second interrogation of Eric Stone. Turns out, Eric knew the person that had shot KiKi at her own wedding, and that’s who he’d met up with when Korsak and Frankie brought him in. Had he wanted to give up the man? Absolutely not, but Maura had seen Jane with him in the interrogation room; it was a thing of beauty - she had told Eric that Hugo Melendez had given him up as the shooter for his mother, and Eric had panicked, named </span>
  <em>
    <span>Hugo</span>
  </em>
  <span> as the van’s usual driver.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A quick review of Melendez’s usual hideouts led them to where he had dumped the van - the parking lot of a dive bar about twenty minutes outside of the city. Maura had watched with fear as Jane had suited up in Kevlar with Rafael Martinez and they busted most of Alice’s drug ring in a week. No more drugs meant no more income, and no more drugs meant no more lackeys to help carry out her demented mission. Alice would have to come home soon.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>While the raids were a victory overall for crime prevention and punishment, it had brought Jane and Maura and their own operation to a screeching halt, thus sending any possibility of a jealousy strike by Alice into a deep freeze. She remembered the last time they had truly been together, the way Jane had kissed her and pulled her close in the fortress that was her home. Maura was stunned, but she had kissed back; she had had so many questions, but kept them inside and let herself be held. They had gone upstairs to her bedroom after that, Jane had stripped down to her underwear, and fell asleep without a word, on top of the duvet. Maura had watched her belly rise and fall, took pleasure in the contrast of her Italian skin against the light color of her bed, but when she woke up, Jane had been gone - no doubt struck by epiphany in the early morning hours. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She sat, a full seven days later, at her desk, researching several symptoms presented by the dead person on her table, when Jane Rizzoli finally wandered in for more than a hello and a coffee refill.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, Maura,” the detective breathed out, take-out coffee already in hand. She fell hard to the couch, knowing that without a word, Maura would follow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi,” Maura was quiet, reserved. She knew that Jane would notice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s been too long since I’ve seen you,” said Jane after a sip of her drink.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura shrugged. “You saw me this morning on the way down here,” she offered. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, really </span>
  <em>
    <span>seen </span>
  </em>
  <span>you. I’m runnin’ on Maura fumes here,” Jane chuckled, but Maura could see past her flesh to the tiredness in her bones. She supposed that maybe she shouldn’t be too upset with her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You tend to ignore everyone around you when you’re… </span>
  <em>
    <span>hunting</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” she said, finding the only appropriate word. “I’m just glad that you’ve been coming to sleep in the guest bedroom.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You hear me coming in?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes. I’d rather you sleep next to me, but I think that’s partially due to how much I fear for you during the day,” Maura confessed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane sighed. “So I came here to ask you somethin’.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What is it?” Maura asked, her heart speeding up and her palms sweating. </span>
  <em>
    <span>We kissed, and not for show</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think us dismantling the drug ring was a good thing. She’s gotta be paying double attention now, now that everything’s on its way to over. She has no more income, and no more lackeys to run her what she needs. Which means she has to be close. She’s going to be reckless, wanting everything to end soon,” Jane started, and Maura’s heart slowed again, “so, do you want to take that long lunch today?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Honestly, Maura had forgotten about it in the haste of the week, and the words ignited a fire against the walls of her belly. “Yes,” she answered, both to Jane’s actual question and the one she wanted her to ask, the one that sounded identical, but had no deceptive force.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane’s brilliant grin reinforced her choice. “Great. You ready now?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At Maura’s nod, Jane stood and jingled the car keys in her pocket, taking another sip of her coffee and releasing her breath with a visible ache to her lungs. Maura actually scoffed aloud at the idea that Jane thought she could hide injury from her, and at the fact that she had been successful for the few minutes she’d been in the office now. “Wait. What is that?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane reddened and stood stock still. “What’s what?” she feigned ignorance, scanning the room for anything out of place she could transfer her scrutiny to. Of course, they were in the office of Dr. Maura Isles, and nothing had been out of place in ages. Maybe ever.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Across the right side of your ribcage. It’s impairing your breathing,” Maura shook her head, and took three long strides to meet Jane. She snatched the front of her shirt and lifted it out of its tuck, gasping at the huge bruise there.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maura!” Jane shouted, shoving her shirt back down, the motion causing her to wince. “We’re in a public place, here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t try to distract me. You have an acute oblique strain. How did this happen?” Maura was angry again, pulling open the door between her desk and the morgue and stuffing things from various shelves into her purse. Jane followed her in, undoing her belt, unzipping her pants, and hollering as she did so. Maura dared not turn around to answer as she collected materials because if she did, she was sure that she would turn into a pillar of salt. Or something similar enough to cause so much thirst. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maura. Maura! What are you doing? I thought we were gonna leave!” Jane called out, shaking her pants so as to retuck her tee. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We are, and I’m driving,” Maura replied. They blustered through the lab to the elevator as others watched them pass.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What? Why? It’s just a scrape. Melendez was tryin’ to run away and he hopped a fence. All I did was reach a little too high to grab him and yank him down. Martinez was right next to me the whole time, I promise,” Jane pleaded. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They were halfway to the car when Maura decided to speak again. “I don’t doubt that he was with you. But it’s not just a scrape. It’s a torn muscle, and a pretty severely torn one by the looks of that bruise. You don’t take care of yourself, and you thus lose your driving privileges for today. Especially since I know where we’re going.” she recalled her conversations with KiKi, and with Angela, and she saw them now, as they were - as women who cared for Jane, but also as women who cared for the people around Jane, the people who would be devastated by the loss of her. She commended them for seeing what was often hard for her to: Jane’s heroism was epic, but it was also instinctual and selfish. It was enticing because it was so innate, but it was also maddening because it was a compulsory force. Jane could not resist it, even when she should. She paid her body no mind, and the debt for that would come due later in life, for which Maura planned to be present. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane huffed, unaware of the revelations about herself inside of Maura’s head, but she plopped into the passenger’s seat without too much grumbling and only a little pain. “I’ve done this before, you know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura, with both hands on the wheel and a right turn onto the main street, spared a quick glance to Jane. “What have you done? Had lunch sex with a coworker?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane blushed hard. “No, not with a coworker,” she answered, sidestepping the most honest answer she could give. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Who?” Maura spied Jane from the corner of her eye, intensely curious. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“None of your business, nosey,” Jane turned her chin theatrically to the passenger side window, away from Maura, who ached at the loss and burned at the cat-and-mouse they played.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jane.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ok fine! A… coworker’s sister,” Jane turned back, her eyebrows high above the top of her RayBans and her lips pursed in a guilty grin.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A sister… who has a sister at BPD that we know?” Maura asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s need to know. But I was in DCU. And that’s truly all you’re getting out of me.” Jane looked out the window again, this time wistfully, and Maura’s mouth dropped open in a scandalized smile at the news. “But I meant I’ve torn my oblique before.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s a painful, fickle injury,” Maura respected the serious switch in her friend’s tone. She passed through lunch time traffic as carefully as she could, trying not to jostle either of them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, in the academy, during the rope climb,” Jane said with a rasp. “Alice was there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura waited to respond for a few beats, until Jane’s energy felt contained enough for words. “So, you do remember her.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Barely,” Jane said. “I hadn’t even thought about it until you said I had an oblique strain,” she straightened up in her seat, wincing. “I remembered it then. I reached too high and tore it, and she tried to take advantage of that to beat me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And she won by default,” Maura finished for her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And she still lost,” Jane corrected. “I beat her by just a second or two.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That had to bruise her ego,” Maura said. They pulled up to a small but busy cafe in back bay, praying for once that they were being followed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane scoffed as she got out of her seat and slammed the door. “And now she wants to kill me. Because I beat her at the rope climb. Is this junior high?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know it’s not just because you beat her at the rope climb. You know it’s because she is seriously mentally unstable. You have to know that,” Maura said. She took Jane’s hand and held it as they walked, ever aware of their purpose, and she smiled when Jane squeezed it back, with no real consciousness or hesitation. It was natural, the way their fingers intertwined and their arms draped so closely together. They only broke when they grabbed the table closest to the sidewalk, and thus, in public view.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know,” Jane huffed and took to her chair with abandon, despite her side that must have been barking. Maura marveled at the way Jane was </span>
  <em>
    <span>Jane</span>
  </em>
  <span>, how she rested her elbows on the table and laid one hand towards the middle to always, </span>
  <em>
    <span>always </span>
  </em>
  <span>fiddle with a sugar packet, to slide and twist it between her fingers, while the other hand perused the menu. “None of this sounds remotely good.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura could not resist. She took Jane’s fidgeting hand and covered it with her own, stroking the interplay of muscle and bone with her thumb. “Try the Orange Roughy </span>
  <em>
    <span>a la meunier. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Trust me, an elevated take on New Orleans cuisine. It’s hearty; you’ll enjoy it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane didn’t pull away. “If I could say it, I would. But whatever just came out of your mouth is not coming out of mine,” she complained, but her eyes danced and her posture was lax.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh that’s no excuse. I will order it for you. Though, would it kill you to try new things, learn a new language?” asked Maura with some sass.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane rolled her eyes. “I’ll try to make some time after I get rid of the homicidal maniac on my tail.” The comment brought them both into the present with a shattering of fantasy. Maura squeezed Jane’s hand, tightly, but neither said much after the waiter had taken their order, or even as they ate. Only when Maura went to look at the check did either of them speak substantially. “No. I’m paying. That’ll piss her off, trust me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So Jane did, and Maura let her. She waited as Jane signed the receipt, popped one of the gourmet mints on the tray into her mouth, and put on her sunglasses, but when Jane stood, Maura grasped her bicep with one hand and rejoined their fingers with the other. Jane stiffened but played along, and by the time that Maura stopped them at the car, she had caught on and placed a hand on Maura’s lower back as they faced one another.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura breathed in Jane’s breath, the peppermint and natural notes of something unmistakably her. “We need to be feeling amorous, remember?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, I remember,” said Jane, curling up an eyebrow in mirth. She smiled against the fingertip that Maura tapped on her lips.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura tried not to let it show that the statement and hoarse growl aroused her for real. She trusted her own physicality; she trusted the weight of Jane against her finger and trusted her decision to move that finger, and she was rewarded. Jane kissed her then, short, respectful, no tongue and no teeth with just the right amount of wet smack to sound sexy - her best friend sure knew how to put on a show. “We’re going to The Ainsworth on 6th. Come on,” Maura whispered against Jane’s mouth. Jane nodded, and they sped off without one glance to their surroundings. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Had someone seen? </span>
  </em>
  <span>Maura wondered, </span>
  <em>
    <span>had Alice seen? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She found herself unable to care as she gave her keys to the valet and led Jane inside.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane whistled at the interior of the lobby. It wasn’t the nicest they had seen, Maura for all her riches and experience, Jane for investigating the murders of the rich and experienced, but The Ainsworth wowed. Vaulted ceilings and dark furniture gave it a rustic appeal, but hanging crystal chandeliers made sure that guests did not forget they were paying for luxury, for prestige. Maura approached the check-in desk while Jane poked around the displays with her hands in her pockets. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We need a room,” Maura said plainly to the young woman at the computer in front of her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course,” the woman, Natalie by her name badge, said. “Unfortunately, the only rooms we have available for right now are two of our suites, would that work for you?” she asked as she typed away on her keyboard, not really looking at Maura.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura counted her blessings for it. “That’s fine,” she handed Natalie a credit card and tapped her fingers on the marble of the counter. “Whatever is available is fine.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Great,” Natalie said, and then handed Maura her keys and receipt. “Of course, your card will not be charged until you check out, Dr. Isles. I hope you enjoy your stay with us. If there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to call the front desk.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura felt a little rude, and yet, she couldn’t be bothered to stay for the rest of Natalie’s memorized speech. She found Jane and took her arm towards the elevator.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Rarin’ to go, huh?” Jane chuckled as Maura pushed the button for the 15th floor. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re not?” Clearly, by her face, this was not the response that Jane expected. Maura stood closer to Jane’s body, the spike in heat a welcome development. “You said yourself that this has to be convincing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane breathed a sigh, a hybrid between relief and disappointment. “You’re right, you’re right. Where’s our room?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“1501. They only had suites available; I hope that’s alright.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh yeah, it’s a real inconvenience. But I guess if I </span>
  <em>
    <span>have </span>
  </em>
  <span>to take the suite…” Jane trailed off as they </span>
  <em>
    <span>dinged </span>
  </em>
  <span>their way to the 15th. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura read her humor perfectly, a welcome side effect of their constant togetherness. “Follow me,” she demanded with a wink. She could tell that it took everything within Jane not to roll her eyes. But, she didn’t, and she obliged, hands on Maura’s hips, thumbs stroking lightly there as she swiped the keycard on the door, her attention to every possible detail, every possible chance to keep up the charade no doubt a holdover from her time in the drug unit. It beeped and they were hit with crisp, conditioned air, and then it was Jane’s turn to whistle again. The door closed, she dropped her hands to her own sides, and clicked her tongue at the expansive living space, kitchen area, and fully stocked bar of the room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So these are the perks of being loaded?” She asked as she rifled through cupboards and checked the labels on bottles. “Quite the setup.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I suppose. I don’t often stay in hotel rooms that aren’t provided by the Commonwealth, so I wouldn’t know. Now come sit down,” said Maura. She motioned to the door that led to the bedroom. Jane followed her, watched as Maura took off her heels and set her bag on the nightstand. She motioned to the bed, and Jane sat. “Take off your shirt.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane went to, then paused. “Maura, you do know this is all pretend, right? She can’t see us in here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura rolled her eyes and got on her knees between Jane’s open ones. She pulled her bag to her and started to take out a few supplies: an elastic bandage, a cool pack, and a tube of menthol cold pain relief gel. “Don’t be ridiculous. Take off your shirt. Have you been doing anything to alleviate or treat your symptoms?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane grumbled her way through the pull of the shirt up to her chin, but yelped when she had to pull it over her head. “Fucker made me grab his foot so hard I hyperextended his ankle. Little did I know he was hyperextending me, too. I dunno, a hot pack, I guess?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura shook her head. “Heat promotes swelling and slows the healing process,” she said as she prepared the gel for application. She winced herself when she saw the bruising against Jane’s side, blood under the skin like dripping paint against a flat surface. “This is bad, Jane. Move your arm.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane said nothing, just did as told. Resistance was futile, especially since Maura was mad, and Maura knew that Jane knew that she was mad. So, Maura took the gel in her palm and started to apply it with clinical precision just under Jane’s right breast. Jane tried desperately not to whimper as Maura applied with all the force of her flat palm; so pained was Jane’s face that Maura altered her care - she slid down the rest of Jane’s side with open fingers and a smooth descent, trying actively to avoid any tender spots. “It’s hard to tell where the tear is without any imaging. Gravity pulls the blood down from the site of the injury and there is a lot of it; that doesn’t tell me much besides that the tear was moderately severe.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Does it matter? It’s just gonna take time, that’s all,” said Jane. She cleared her throat when Maura activated the cold pack and began to press it to the best approximation of her injury.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It matters when I’m trying to apply this pack to the most efficient place.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane winced at the cold right on her ribs. “Christ that’s frigid. Is this really necessary?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes. Now hold it close so I can wrap this compression bandage around your trunk,” Maura rolled her eyes as she moved the Ace bandage around as tightly as advisable. When she was finished, she stood, took in Jane’s swollen nasojugal folds and bloodshot eyes - the signs of wear and tear from Alice that she could see. Many more lurked just under the surface, ones that made Jane sure she was a killer, ones that made Jane feel strongly enough to compromise everything she had once stood for in the face of crime and injustice. Overwhelmed with some sort of hot sadness, Maura only pushed one of Jane’s shoulders to the mattress. “Lay down. It will expedite the healing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane laid back as she was told, tried not to shut her eyes and succumb to sleep. Not when Alice could be waiting right outside the door. “Yes, Doc.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura walked over to the other side of the bed and laid down next to her, tucking one hand behind a pillow, and the other between her knees. She studied Jane, the contours of her nose and her lips, the wrinkles forming just so at the corners of her eyes, the tan of her shirtless skin against the cream of the Ace Bandage, both of which contrasted the black of her bra.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane, as always, was aware that Maura studied her. “So, should we strip?” she joked, eager to diffuse the silence between them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura knew the defense well, and she never let Jane just have it. “I’ve already got you halfway there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane blushed again, but recovered quickly, putting her good side’s arm under her head and crossing her ankles. “Sex while I’m injured is a buzzkill, Maura. Just trust me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura laughed softly. “You mean for you or for me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“For both of us!” Jane said through a laugh of her own. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I can’t really move. Anything as athletic as sex would be out of the question.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You think we would be athletic together,” Maura stated aloud, mulling the revelation through her brain.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I meant sex in general,” clarified Jane. She picked at some lint on the front of her pants. “Alice is gonna hate this,” she said after a few seconds.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She is,” Maura agreed. “She will hate that I get to be with you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She’s gonna hate that you apparently get to sleep with me,” Jane said. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“For approximately,” Maura trailed off as she looked at her watch, “half an hour. Should we call it a day?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane nodded, sat up gingerly on her own. “Yup. Need to get back to work, anyway.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura removed the bandage to take the cold pack away from Jane’s side, then rewound it tight against Jane’s ribs. She tried to keep her heart from fluttering at the idea that Jane did not consider their meeting work. “Alright. Will I see you tonight?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Possible,” Jane answered, putting her t-shirt on again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If I do, I’ll redress that for you. If I don’t, you have to promise me to get someone to do it for you, and promise me you will continue to apply the cold pack off and on,” Maura said as she put on her heels and scanned the bedroom one last time for any forgotten items. They walked to the door, and she held out her hand for Jane’s, ready to resume their ruse.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane took it with more conviction than Maura was ready for, and held her close, pressing her body against the door. “I promise,” Jane said on the exhale, threading her fingers through the hair at the nape of Maura’s neck and stepping forward so that Maura fit better against her. Jane moved to kiss her, but Maura grasped Jane’s upper lip in between her teeth to stop her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We need to talk about this,” she said after she let Jane go.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“About what?” Jane asked, leaning forward, trying the kiss again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura pecked her lips quickly, but turned the knob in her hand and stepped back. “About why you keep doing that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane shook her head, followed her out into the hall. “Later. We’ve gotta get back to work.” Maura reluctantly nodded, knew that if she pushed Jane too hard, she would run. So, they left, feelings and fears unspoken, and after the long work evening, Maura was glad to get some time alone at home.</span>
</p>
<p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I have this headcanon that Jane slept with Martinez's hot sister who ended up as a lawyer in NYC, and that's why Rafael is always so moody LMAO. Also, I have a weakness for Dr. Maura and any scenes where she fixes Jane up, so I wrote one of my own.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. The Present</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>On her way home from their third hotel date that week, Maura found a bottle of champagne on her doorstep with a note affixed to the neck by ribbon. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Congratulations, Maura.</span>
  </em>
  <span>  -</span>
  <em>
    <span>Alice </span>
  </em>
  <span>was all that it read. It chilled Maura more than the fall breeze that had begun to swirl, and she grasped her keys in between her knuckles. Eyes darted back and forth, and back - no sign of intrusion, no sign of a lingering perpetrator. She fortified herself with a gulp of air, and then slowly pushed inside her home. As always, the halls were dark and the rooms were silent at this time of night if there were no Rizzolis around, and she broke that silence by disarming the alarm next to the coat rack. Only then did she allow herself the wet crawl of panic down her back, and the dry mouth it brought about - she debated not calling Jane, not telling her, waiting. Should she keep this close to the vest? Would Jane call off the whole thing if she knew that the night shift of patrol had let Alice or one of her cronies walk right up to the front door and drop off the bottle uninterrupted - a bottle meant exclusively for her? Jane’s unknowns could prove more volatile than the situation at hand if not handled with care. But, no matter how true that was, she deserved to know, at least that they had been visited. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That settled it, and she rummaged through her bag and pulled out her phone. Jane picked up. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Miss me already? </span>
  </em>
  <span>She greeted sleepily.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura heard a car blinker in the background. “Were you coming over tonight?”’</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Yeah. I’m about to get a bite to eat and then I was going to head over. Why? </span>
  </em>
  <span>asked Jane.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come now. Please. I’ll cook for you, just come as fast as you can,” Maura said, her hand to her forehead and her eyes closed in a prayer that Jane would remain cryptic.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Immediately there was a shift against something - fabric maybe. Jane was sitting up taller in her seat, at full attention now. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Everything alright, Maura?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, I’m fine. Will you come?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m on my way. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The line clicked dead before Maura could say the </span>
  <em>
    <span>be careful</span>
  </em>
  <span> dangling from her lips, and in that moment, she resolved to be truthful about everything - except the note. That she stuffed into the bottom of the knife drawer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was maybe another ten minutes before she heard Jane’s key slide into her lock. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, everything good?” said Jane before she was even visible from behind the front door. “You sounded weird on the phone.” Maura knew, by the way her friend’s face faltered and hardened, that she herself must have looked afright. She felt the sweat on her skin and the weakness in her joints, but somehow, she disassociated it all from her emotions.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come here,” she whispered, the bottle of champagne held tight in her hand, and Jane crossed the distance between them in three long strides. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What the hell, Maura. You’re scarin’ me here,” she said, and Maura handed her the bottle, but with no note attached to the black </span>
  <em>
    <span>congrats </span>
  </em>
  <span>ribbon. She studied it, released a shaky exhale, the anger exhale Maura knew so well - the one that meant Jane was trying not to be violent - and set the bottle down on the counter with the slightest of liquid </span>
  <em>
    <span>ping</span>
  </em>
  <span>s. Despite its identity as a threat, it sounded decadent against the cold granite of the kitchen island. “You ok?” Jane asked. Maura nodded. “Someone give this to you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No,” said Maura, hand on her own belly to steady her nerves. She saw Jane’s eyes drag from her hand back up to her face. “No, it was on the doorstep when I got home. Perfectly placed in the center of the mat.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane nodded curtly and chewed the inside of her lip. “Still shaken up?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah,” was all Maura could manage.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Want a hug?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura let herself be embraced the way she felt she was made to be. Sometimes, when Jane Rizzoli opened her arms and her hips and Maura stepped into it, it was like stepping into a supple storm, letting herself be submerged in warm rain and the sweet press of Jane against her. This time was different: usually, Jane held her loosely, punctuated the hug with a few tight squeezes, but now it was like she wanted to take Maura into her. They stood like that for several long minutes, occasionally swaying, Maura taking pleasure in the sturdiness of Jane’s shoulder against her cheek and the heat of Jane’s body around hers, Jane holding her so close that Maura swore she could smell autumn and spike of pheromones under her friend’s tee. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The touch could not last forever, though. Maura felt Jane stand ramrod straight as they broke, and all she gruffed out was: “excuse me for a minute.” Jane had already swung the front door wide open before Maura even realized what was happening.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jane! Jane, wait. It’s not-” she wanted to be rational, wanted to approach their situation with calm, but Jane had already marched into the middle of the street.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What the fuck, guys?” She bellowed out into the air, staring wildly at the face behind the patrol car’s driver door outside the house. “You had one job!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ortiz, a burly man probably ten years younger than Jane, lurched out of the car that he dwarfed. “Whoa, whoa, Rizzoli. What’s goin’ on here?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jane, calm down,” Maura said, her tone even and warm. She stood behind Jane, not too close to the argument, careful to avoid becoming collateral damage.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The hell I will, Maura,” Jane barked back. “Ortiz, answer me somethin’, huh?” She asked, voice rising with sarcasm and vitriol, arms spread wide as she shrugged them. Her Boston accent, thin but still audible every once in a while, came out full force. There were times that Maura saw Jane’s heritage bared and full, and she couldn’t say that she disliked it. She stepped a little closer, reached her hand out, threatening to touch Jane. It was a dignified threat, the threat of a loved one, but she knew that if she didn’t assert control soon, all that control could be lost.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s that?” Ortiz shot back, hands on his belt. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How the </span>
  <em>
    <span>fuck </span>
  </em>
  <span>do you knuckleheads let a possible </span>
  <em>
    <span>murder </span>
  </em>
  <span>suspect waltz right up to the front door and </span>
  <em>
    <span>leave </span>
  </em>
  <span>something?!” Jane yelled, and a few lights on the street turned on at the racket.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nothing happened on my watch, Rizzoli. Nothin’,” clearly, Officer Ortiz had been shaken by the information, even if he was innocent of what Jane accused. He swallowed and spared a glance to Maura’s courtyard. “The only persons to approach that doorstep on my shift were Dr. Isles, and you, just now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well it sure as shit didn’t happen on Reynolds’, because he would have told me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jane, please,” Maura chose that moment to step forward, to put a hand under her friend’s blazer and rest it on her back. She felt the tension there, as though Jane coiled her body to strike. “It happened. Just, come inside.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane didn’t move, didn’t take her eyes off of Ortiz, and Ortiz’s mouth dropped open. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Damn,” he said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Damn? Damn, what, Bobby?” Jane demanded, stepping close to him. “You know somethin’?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The switch,” he said simply.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The switch?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The switch between Reynolds and me. There’s about 20 minutes from when he leaves to when I get here,” Ortiz said quietly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“20 - why?!” Jane asked, her face compressed in equal parts confusion and disgust.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because that’s how long it takes me to get from the station to here, Rizzoli! I gotta switch out my patrol car for this unmarked and ditch the uniform! And none of you are ever home before 4:20. That’s when we get here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jane,” Maura was firm now, insistent. Her hand went from resting to pressing, the way her mother would when Maura had picked a particularly inconvenient time to act out. Jane sighed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well shit, she’s good. We’re gonna figure out that oversight in the morning,” she said. “I’m gonna go in there and check the cameras. You’re gonna stay out here with your eyes peeled twice.” Without another word or wave in his direction, she turned and followed Maura back into the house.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When the door clicked, Maura pointed at Jane. “You are loud. You’re going to get me in trouble with my neighbors.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane scoffed. “You kiddin’ me? They’ve heard way worse. Remember when Tommy and Lydia got into that shouting match over Christmas? I couldn’t hold a candle to that,” she said, waving her hand over her head as though it was nothing. “You hungry? I’m hungry.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You were very abrasive with Officer Ortiz. He’s helping us,” Maura said, standing with her arms crossed near the entryway.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane went over to the kitchen and started to pull out ingredients for a quick </span>
  <em>
    <span>patate al forno. </span>
  </em>
  <span>“You know, I thought a mandoline was just a musical instrument before I met you,” she said as she pulled out the tool and sliced potatoes with it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jane,” Maura admonished her, moving to stand next to her, back against the lip of the counter Jane faced. Jane looked over to see Maura so close, her pupils dilated and her skin flushed - Maura wanted so badly to touch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So she did, sliding a finger through one of her friend’s belt loops not hidden by a gun or badge.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know, I know,” said Jane. “I’m nervous, but I guess everything is going to plan. Right?” She chopped and dropped ingredients into the ceramic dish in front of her - Sicilian style with her Ma’s in-bulk, spicy-sweet tomato sauce and a heaping helping of seasonal vegetables. She didn’t look Maura in the eye, and sniffled like she did so often when she was stressed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you ok?” Maura prodded, pulling her hips closer by the belt and resting against her shoulder.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Should we keep doin’ this? I mean, we’re getting under her skin, clearly. But I can’t put you in harm’s way, Maura. I can’t do it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura turned toward Jane then and took her hand. She made up her mind as she watched water and light dance around the dark of Jane’s eyes that she would take care of things, see them through to the end. She would make sure that she herself came through it on the other side as unscathed as she could, but not so unscathed that she stayed on the bench while Jane bounded off into danger. “You won’t. You won’t put me in harm’s way.” At that, Jane shrugged, swallowed to compose herself. “Now, are you going to finish making me dinner?” Maura asked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane chuckled, and moved to slide the dish in the oven. They ate in relative peace and quiet, breaking the lull every once in a while with meaningless comments, ones meant to soothe their anxiety and calm their nerves. When it came time to put the dishes in the dishwasher, Jane volunteered and shooed Maura away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She arrived at the master bedroom shortly after Maura put her shoes in the closet and began to take off her jewelry, and she stood in the doorway as she flipped through camera footage on her phone. “She’s such a bitch. She covered the cameras.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura paused in front of her vanity, looking in the mirror, not at her friend. “That just seems cunning. Why does it make her a bitch?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane sighed. “Because I’m mad. Because I’m tired and stressed and haven’t even allowed myself to </span>
  <em>
    <span>fantasize </span>
  </em>
  <span>about more than four hours of sleep. The thing about her is that she’s trying to get to all my friends and family to get to me, and in order to protect them I have to work so hard that I never see them,” she whined, slumping her shoulders. Maura got up from her spot and ran her hands over them. “I never see you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura loved this Jane - the real one. Under the steel of her exterior, of her armor, was a heart that yearned for the affection of her family. Jane longed to be accepted and embraced by them more than she longed for just about anything. They loved her, she loved them, and they constantly showed one another; Maura was always in awe of it, how foreign it seemed to her. But, the one thing that Jane wanted more than them, more than their time and their love, was Maura’s time and Maura’s love - it was a realization that had struck her, of all places, with her hands bone-deep in an autopsy about three years prior to this moment. And she indulged in that information often, now that she was sure of it. “Talk to me, then. Talk to me, spend time with me tonight. Tell me why you’ve been kissing me while no one’s watching,” she whispered as she put her hand on Jane’s clavicle and touched the thundering pulse of the artery just below. Jane went to counter, but Maura silenced her with a finger in the air. “I promise I’ll listen. Whatever you think I might say is a thousand times worse than what I actually would.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane warred within herself, but the damage of that war showed itself in the tightening of her face and the bob of her larynx in her throat. Maura wanted to kiss it as it struggled to keep emotion from bubbling up into Jane’s mouth. “I can’t, Maura. Not right now. Not when it’s late and I’m pouting and I haven’t really slept since last Monday. Hell, since July. You deserve better than that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura sighed. Unfortunately, one thing she knew as intimately as Jane’s need for her was Jane’s stubbornness. “Kiss me now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What? Did you not just hear me?” Jane gulped, but refused to step away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We were talking about talking, and I am respecting your decision to shelve that conversation, for now. I won’t wait forever, but I can wait for a little while,” Maura said. She reached behind herself to try and snag the zipper of her dress. “But kissing is not talking, and you want to kiss me. I see it in the way you’re looking at me. I hear it in your voice when you tell me that you miss me. So, do it.” Jane scrutinized Maura and smirked, saying nothing and moving in to reach the zipper that her friend could not. With her hand halfway down Maura’s back, she closed the distance between their lips for a brief moment. It was a sweet kiss that felt protective and innocent. It held so much back. “Is that all?” Maura asked. Seeing the pleasure-fear in Jane’s eyes told her to reroute with humor. “If I can’t reach the zipper at the top of the dress, there’s no way I can reach it in the middle.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I got it,” Jane assured her as she blushed, and Maura took Jane’s face in her hands, thumbs stroking her cheeks. They kissed for longer, their lips warming with each row forward and tug backward; Jane sighed as she pressed her body against Maura’s and pressed her tongue past her teeth. Maura accepted it, offered her own as repayment, let herself get lost in the feeling of Jane against her hands, in the Jane that she loved in so many ways - in a new way she was just discovering now. She let herself get lost in how Jane’s fingers rested against the bare skin just above her ass, under the fabric of her dress; she let herself get lost in how it felt to be so close to the closest person in her life. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The sudden, all-encompassing desire to have sex with that person hit her, and she very gently broke the kiss, because with the way Jane watched her, the way Jane’s thumbs stroked her ass now, palms flat against it, she clearly wanted Maura just as badly. “Sleep in here tonight.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane’s eyes said that she received the message, however: </span>
  <em>
    <span>this won’t be going any further until you open up, but I want you around. </span>
  </em>
  <span>“Alright,” she agreed, easily enough. She unzipped her boots, kicked them off and undid the buckle of her belt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura stepped away to finish taking off her clothes and complete her nightly grooming routine before she gave into the temptation to help Jane. She heard Jane’s light snoring between putting on her robe and brushing her teeth, let it clear her mind enough to think about what had just happened, namely, that her body had fought to convince that mind to sleep with her best friend. And, that mind would have agreed if Jane would have elected to talk about what brewed between them, all because someone wanted to take Jane down. Maura patted her face dry with a towel as a thought took hold of her - the note she found on the champagne bottle? The box mailed to her assistant? The kidnapping and taking of her hair? When looked at objectively, it added up to a different story than the one that they had all previously believed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alice wanted to hunt </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She froze in fear, eyes reflected in the mirror above the sink, lips just slightly open. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’ve been the target from the beginning</span>
  </em>
  <span>. She searched her life the last few months to find any evidence of stalking, to see if Alice wanted her instead, but she came up empty. No, Jane was still her obsession, but Maura was her obstacle. Maura would be the only thing to draw her out. So, as Jane slept on her back, mouth open, completely unaware of Maura’s findings, Maura plotted how exactly to do that. Jane would never agree to the plan that nibbled at the back of her brain - hell, it gave </span>
  <em>
    <span>her </span>
  </em>
  <span>the cold sweats as she took off her robe and climbed under the covers, nightgown sticking to her body - but being bait could be the only way to take Alice Sands down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura turned out the bedside lamp and held Jane’s hand in silent apology.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. The Pleasure</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Surprise! This update is a day early. I will always have Plumber Jane in my stories because I have A Mighty Need (TM).</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>For the first time that week, Maura woke before Jane. Though it was Saturday, she wondered as she sat at the edge of the bed if this was what Jane saw every morning - total darkness at 4:30. Thankfully, Jane lay next to her still, in a deep sleep; she didn’t stir even when Maura rose and the bed dipped with the loss of her. Saturdays were the day that they had pledged, long ago, that they would make every effort to make their day of rest. Their solace against the storm of murder and danger that swamped them every time they stepped out into the world. Sometimes it was an odyssey to get Jane to obey, sometimes Maura even had to beg. But today, exhaustion did all the convincing, and Jane’s body forced her to recuperate. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura thanked that body sincerely as she tiptoed around the room and gathered her workout gear. She peeled off her nightgown and her underwear, letting the artificial warmth of the heater hit her skin as she walked into the bathroom, clothes in hand; she emerged in everything but her socks just a few minutes later, still in the dark. She grabbed those socks and her shoes, sat at the edge of the bed again, and pulled her shoestrings tight enough to be comfortable for the next hour. Normally, she would stretch with some light yoga in the other room, wander down into the kitchen to wake herself up with some tea, and complete some breathing exercises before she even put on her running shoes. She only had time for the breathing this morning, if she wanted her plan to work.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>4:30 was a full half-hour before the detail was supposed to arrive on Saturday morning. On Friday night, Ortiz went home after midnight, exhausted but grateful for the double-time that watching Dr. Isles deposited into his paycheck. BPD was short staffed, and it was decided that Jane would stay every Friday night so that the weekend officer needn’t arrive until 5. It was their weakness, and Maura intended to exploit it today: she slipped out the back door just before 5, careful not to alert Angela, whose lights were already on, and didn’t start her warm-up trot until she reached the side streets behind her home. She hadn’t learned </span>
  <em>
    <span>nothing </span>
  </em>
  <span>from Jane, keeping pepper spray tucked away in a pack against her waist as she ran, and she wore reflective gear not only for the cars who passed on their way to work to avoid her, but also to be noticed, to be seen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She ran through the expanse of her neighborhood and back through busier intersections, feeling the burn of cold air and exertion just under her breast. It thrilled her - she had become so used to being monitored that freedom felt sinful; it felt marvelous to be alone. She reminded herself that she ran to be exposed, and that sobered her a bit, the idea that she ran alone in the murky morning air to be seen, and to possibly be taken. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane would kill her herself if she knew. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Alice permeated every aspect of their lives, and Maura tired of it. She wanted intimacy with Jane just as much as Jane wanted intimacy with her, even if neither of them were ready to ask themselves why just yet. That meant taking Alice out of the picture, permanently, and the sooner the better. She let that knowledge soothe the more inflamed parts of her conscience, and she carried it with her as she hid behind a few cars to spy on the patrol just outside her home. She determined that she was safely out of sight, stalked back to the rear door, put her hand on the knob.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When it creaked open and Maura walked into her dining room, she saw Jane standing there. Her eyes still squinted with sleep and she scratched the back of her head as she took Maura in. “You goin’ for a run?” she asked in her sleep-rasp, leaning against the island in just an oversized BPD t-shirt and a pair of shorts. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura heard the sadness in her voice. Jane already knew. “Just came back from one, actually.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The admission made Jane’s nostrils flare. Whatever wild hope she’d had just dissipated into some sort of angry confusion. “Why’d you go out the back door? The weekend guys wouldn’t see you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura had a decision to make: hide a lie in a half-truth, or come completely clean - she chose the former. “I wanted to be alone. Just for a little bit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So why couldn’t you go to the gym or do yoga or something?” Jane interrogated, giving Maura one last chance to say something that would put away Jane’s fears that she had just done something monumentally dangerous, monumentally stupid. But she knew. She had known before Maura opened the back door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura took a breath to calm herself and anything she might say out of turn. “Because those things involve people. I honestly didn’t think about it beyond the fact that I wanted to get up and do it,” she said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maura,” Jane replied, the name on her mouth like something she wanted so badly to eat but knew she shouldn’t, “someone out there is trying to kill me. And she wouldn’t hesitate to do it by murdering you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This gave Maura pause, and she took pity on Jane’s troubled, beautiful face when she chose not to tell her about the conclusions from the night before regarding Alice’s true target. “I wore this reflective sweater. I took my pepper spray. I was careful, Jane. I promise.” When she went over to Jane to console her, Jane had opened the refrigerator, rummaging for the coffee creamer, so Maura settled for hugging Jane from behind and kissing between her shoulder blades. She felt the tension there radiate back into her lips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You’re just usually not so reckless, Maura. That’s my job,” said Jane. Maura felt the words more than heard them: felt them on her cheek as they rattled through Jane’s chest, felt them in her heart because they were icy, not her default tenderness. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m getting used to you being here in the morning,” Maura tried a little diversion and some sweetness to reel her Jane back in. “When this is all over, I’m going to miss that. This.” She flattened her hands against the abdomen under them, scratching lightly over the fabric of that worn t-shirt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane tensed again, sighed as the bad mood came over her regardless of how Maura’s words quickened her. The best she could do was take a page from Maura’s book and divert their discussion. “You’re gonna take that back when I tell you what happened in the guesthouse.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then it was Maura’s turn to straighten up. “Wait. What?” She pulled her head back, but kept her hands put.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane closed the fridge, put a hand on Maura’s over her belly. “I went to ask Ma if she’d seen you this morning when I woke up and you weren’t there. When she said she saw you go out for a run, I went to the kitchen, turned the sink on and the flow was weak, so I took a peak under there. There was definitely something recording in the cabinet. Hopefully not also behind that wall or any others. Also, I told Callaghan to follow you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The timing could not have been worse. Not just with their predicament, but with their current unstable ground - Maura </span>
  <em>
    <span>hated </span>
  </em>
  <span>concealing the whole truth from Jane. She also hated it when Jane did these sorts of things behind her back. “You have </span>
  <em>
    <span>got</span>
  </em>
  <span> to be kidding me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nope,” Jane said with faux sweetness as she walked over to the coffee maker. “So when the hour is actually decent, I will call my brother and we’ll spend our Saturday fixing it. Make this place a fortress again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, thank you. I’ll pretend you and your entire family are </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>spying on me,” Maura replied, deciding the playing field was even, at least for now. “You don’t want a real cup of coffee?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane shook her head. “No, this is just fine.” Maura heard the defiance, the resistance in her words, the everyday sentence that laid the bricks for the wall being erected around her emotions.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jane, let me,” Maura’s response was just as much a tool, a ladder to try and scale, but it was to no avail.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I got it,” said Jane. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi Maura,” Frankie Jr. hugged Maura in the doorway of her house. The sun had come out in full force, and it made his back hot against her palms when she patted it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi,” she said as she breathed in his cologne, more like his father’s scent than he might want to acknowledge. “Thank you for this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah,” he waved her off, pulling a bucket of supplies into the living room and closing the door. “Korsak’s making me take the rest of the day anyway. I never thought I’d say it, but I’m looking forward to this - I haven’t had much in the way of victories on the Alice front. Killing these bugs makes me feel needed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura smiled and led him through the hall back to the guest house. “Jane thinks she found them all, but she had to cut behind the wall to do it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. She had me pick up a few things,” He held the bucket up and twirled it. His work boots shuffled on the tile, and that was when Maura saw the two of them together, Jane laying with her body partially inside the cabinet, Frankie setting the bucket down next to her and putting his head in to survey the damage. They were nearly identical - the bends of their bodies and the color of their hair, their Rizzoli &amp; Sons logo on their backs despite their complicated relationship with their father. It was the perfect symbol of their loyalty.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jesus, who did the work in here? Pop?” He asked. Jane barked more than laughed, her frustration evident. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Coulda been, considering he and Ron redid all these old houses for the HOA. They just shoved this trap into the steel pipe, without securing it. No wonder there was also a leak, in addition to all </span>
  <em>
    <span>that,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” she grumbled, pointing to a bucket with small M&amp;M sized microphones, maybe 8 or so in total, some from behind the wall, some hidden behind the refrigerator. She seethed at the idea that while they secured Maura, they were leaving out Angela. The bugs were old, no signal coming from them, Nina said, at least for a few weeks, but Jane surmised it was how Alice found out how to be three steps ahead of them in the beginning. “How did we miss this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura hid a smirk with her hand and crouched to join them. “You want me to call a plumber so you don’t have to look at it anymore?” she asked, putting her other hand on Jane’s thigh and winking at Frankie, who chuckled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I want you two to back up. Why’re you crowdin’ me?” said Jane, “Frankie, I need the new bucket, the thread compound, and the band clamp.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re lucky I know what all of this stuff is, Janie,” Frankie said as he handed her the supplies. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah yeah. When I was learning it, you were learning it,” Jane replied. “So tell me why I’m better at this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because you’re a perfectionist!” Frankie actually laughed, “I was chasin’ girls and you were Pop’s shadow. Plus, I was always better at the woodwork, anyway.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura looked at Jane, the parts of her that could be seen at least, and saw the stress rising with the red in her skin, especially the little line between where the hem of her shirt rode up and the band of her underwear. If she reached deep into her Rizzoli training, she knew she could pull out the perfect tool to diffuse their small spats, numerous though they always were. “Lunch is on me,” she declared, and immediately two sets of beautiful brown eyes, identical beautiful brown eyes, trained on her. “What would the two of you like?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane and Frankie looked at one another for a few beats, then nodded to signal the end of some sort of silent exchange. “The Robber?” Frankie said. “Our usual orders. It’s close by and we get a hometown discount.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know that money is no object, right?” Maura asked as she leaned against the counter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane didn’t make eye-contact as she replied. She sat up outside the guts of the sink and fiddled with a part. “We know. But it’s fast, and we like it.” Maura knew this meant something along the lines of </span>
  <em>
    <span>we want Ma’s cooking</span>
  </em>
  <span>, so she pressed no further.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, I’ll call in the order and be back shortly, then,” she said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Take Frankie with you. Have him drive you,” Jane called out. Maura’s stomach churned uneasily at the demand: Jane didn’t trust her to be alone, not after the morning run. But, Maura needed to be alone. Did she plan on getting snatched on the way to The Dirty Robber? No, but being dangled as bait couldn’t hurt. It hurt Jane, but Maura hoped that in time, she would understand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m fine going alone, Jane. Trust me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura stepped into the Dirty Robber at two in the afternoon, wrapping her coat about her body as a holdover from the windchill. A few patrons littered the dining area, all served, a few handing their money to the lone waitress who worked the tables, and the bar itself looked closed down until the evening when the place came alive on a Saturday. She herself strode up to the bar and surveyed the area behind it, until she heard her name from behind. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maura, honey, over here,” Angela, tucked away in a booth with KiKi sitting across from her in a sling, waved Maura over toward them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi, I didn’t expect you to be here,” said Maura, greeting them both.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Angela laughed. “I can’t seem to find a way out. KiKi and I decided to meet for a quick lunch, and we were both in the area. When I heard Jenny taking a to-go order down for Dr. Isles, we figured we’d wait for you before heading out,” she said, sharing a look with the woman across from her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why don’t you sit?” KiKi added, patting the open seat next to her. She looked much better than the last time they had met, her hair wavy and washed, color back in her face, no signs of agony. The fact that she no longer lay helpless in a hospital bed no doubt helped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura shook her head. “I would, but the food is for Jane and Frankie. I promised them lunch and this is what they wanted.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The guest house kitchen?” asked Angela, and when Maura nodded she shook her head. “They can wait, Maura. Food’s still in the back; this’ll only take a second.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, Maura wished she were better at reading social situations. Sure, she had learned to flourish in crowds full of potential donors to the family foundation, or at a convention of her colleagues. She knew polite society and professional interaction better than most. But, for those, she followed a distinct and unchanging formula. With family, she was often as lost as they came, especially with a heavyweight like Jane’s mother. Jane’s mother, who apparently had planned with KiKi to corner her into this meeting of the minds. “Alright,” she acquiesced, nearly whispering. When she sat down, it was next to Angela, who patted her knee.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ve been talking,” KiKi started. She wrapped a straw wrapper around her fingers in what looked like a poor imitation of Jane.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh?” Maura asked, purse still on her shoulder and hands folded on top of her jeans. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” Angela said. “And we’ve discovered that we have very similar… feelings about this thing with Jane. How is that going, by the way?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura cursed the circumstances she found herself in. Next time she would tell Jane and Frankie to pick anywhere </span>
  <em>
    <span>but </span>
  </em>
  <span>the Robber. “I cannot discuss the details of an open case, Angela. You know that,” she said, running a hand through her hair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Be discreet then,” Angela pushed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura stood firm. “I really wouldn’t feel comfortable.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That bitch shot KiKi, honey. And that’s my daughter-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And she’s my… she’s my best friend. Alice Sands had someone kidnap me to get to Jane; I won’t compromise any chance that we have to catch her,” she turned red with all that she hadn’t told them, all the kisses she and Jane shared when they thought only Alice was watching. When they thought no one was watching.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kiki intervened. “I know, Maura. I just wanted to know if the two of you are alright. This is hard on all of us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura sighed. “Do you remember that conversation we had that night? You had just come out of surgery, and you told me to be with her every step of the way, to advise her.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I do,” KiKi nodded with a closed-lips smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And Angela, the next day, you asked me much of the same.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Angela chuckled. “I did.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura took a deep breath, “Well, trust me, because I am. I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, either of you: but I spend more time with Jane than anyone else - be confident that I know how to keep her safe.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>At that, Angela wore a private smile as she put a hand on Maura’s back. “Alright, sweetheart. You’re right,” Maura met her eyes and she patted her knee again, “you are. You just know how she is; she’ll bulldoze over anything in her way, even her own safety.” When Maura agreed, Angela motioned for her to get up. “C’mon, let’s get those kids of mine fed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura returned to the guest house, shaken but resolute, to find the two eldest Rizzoli siblings arguing over who would have to go out to the garage and use the miter saw on the wood  they had to replace.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hell no, Frankie. I had to do all the pipe work because you suck at it,” Jane whined, “the least you could do is this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He yelped when she smacked his shoulder. “I’m not trying to cut any of my fingers off, Jane! You know I hate the saw,” he reasoned, trying to appeal to her big-sisterly senses of protection, and for a moment her face faltered. But, she looked over at the work she’d done on the sink and shook her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura, however, stepped into the kitchen and tried not to shiver. The Rizzolis were spectacular in ways her upbringing never really allowed her to appreciate: they sweated through their old t-shirts; they got caked in grime and dust when they worked; they wore jeans and work boots better than should be legal. She straightened her sweater out of habit, smoothing the white and black striped fabric over her midsection, and sat next to Jane on the dining table’s bench. She tried not to inhale her best friend’s scent despite belligerent protestations from her body, the body that slid closer to Jane. “Your food is here,” she finally said, when she gathered enough resolve to open her mouth without embarrassing herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright already, I’ll do it,” Frankie sighed, sitting on the stool he had brought in. He motioned to Jane, who rummaged through the Dirty Robber take-out to find his lunch, and she handed it to him. The smile on his face as he received his tuna melt and fries made him youthful, childlike. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good. But eat first; this can wait 20 minutes,” Jane said around a bite.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t gotta tell me twice,” he replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your mother and KiKi saw fit to grill me about the facts of the case at the Robber,” Maura blurted, watching both of them turn severe in response. Frankie deferred to his sister, but they shared twin anger and protectiveness of their friend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll take care of it,” said Jane, with the finality of a parent’s tone. “You didn’t get anything?” she asked as she looked over to Maura and placed her bag of fries between them. Maura looked back with a curl in her eyebrow, as if to say </span>
  <em>
    <span>you know I don’t eat bar food</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but then took a french fry in her mouth and swung her leg around the bench so that she was straddling it and facing Jane, the toes of their shoes touching.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Frankie shared Jane’s concern. “I’m gonna get a beer from the main kitchen, you sure there ain’t something I can warm up for ya?” he asked, and Maura delighted in the handsomeness of their courtesy, even if Frankie’s mouth was half full as he talked. She shook her head. “You </span>
  <em>
    <span>sure</span>
  </em>
  <span> sure?” he nudged, “it’s the least I could do for you pickin’ up lunch.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t be ridiculous. You both are doing me a service by fixing this mess. You won’t let me pay you in money, so food will have to do,” she said, putting a hand on Jane’s thigh again and, for once, enjoying the dust and grit against her fingers. “And I’m not hungry. I ate just before you got here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Frankie considered her words for a moment, and finally shrugged. “Ok, well, I’ll be right back. I’ll bring you a glass of water, Janie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane and Maura were then alone, and the latter intended to take advantage. “Look at me,” she whispered</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane swallowed and turned her head - the subsequent surprise on her face no doubt from the desperation on Maura’s. “What’s up?” she asked, wiping the sides of her mouth with a paper napkin. When Maura kissed her, she whined in equal parts shock and pleasure, and took charge. Maura herself gave into the urge to be led, accepting Jane’s tongue into the slow, undulating movement of her own.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She broke them apart, reluctantly, with hesitancy and a raw </span>
  <em>
    <span>pop</span>
  </em>
  <span> of their lips ghosting apart. “Stay after your brother leaves.” Jane went in for another kiss instead of giving an answer, but Maura stopped her. “Jane? Stay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane sighed. “Maura,” she stated as though the name solved everything. Her mood continued to confound Maura, continued to run counter to the mood of the night before, when they had wanted to go so much further, when Jane was so unguarded. Now, there seemed to be a wall to traverse to get back to that point.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She employed one of the tricks she’d learned in their time as friends long ago, and felt no shame about it. “Stay. How far apart have we felt recently? Even when we’re together.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane took the bullet to the heart; there was no way she could resist Maura’s plea for love. “It’s her. She’s the wedge between us and that’s how she wants it,” she croaked, elbows on her thighs and hands dangling between her legs. Her face was still inches from Maura’s, seeking out the intimacy that had always flowed so freely between them, heightened by Alice, their recent physicality, and the exhaustion always hovering near the fringes of her consciousness.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura moved her lips to just near Jane’s ear, speckled white by pipe dust and dried adhesive. “Do you want to get rid of the wedge?” she asked, and even though she heard Frankie’s steps coming from the courtyard toward the door, she grabbed Jane by the shoulders, refusing to let the moment pass. Jane nodded and she felt it against her cheek. “Then make love to me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This pulled Jane back - flushed and eyes wild, brow curled up high. “Maura, we’re not together. I-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura silenced Jane to keep herself strong, to keep herself from becoming emotional at the near-rejection. “Did I say it came with a label? Did I say you had to do it as anything more than my best friend? Let’s reconnect. Get close.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Close?” Jane whispered hoarsely, as though she were feeling out her first steps on a rickety bridge. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“As close as two people can be,” Maura assured her, as though she were a few steps ahead on that bridge, holding out a sure hand for Jane to take. “You would be as close to me as anyone has ever been. Closer, given how much we’ve been through.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Frankie could be heard fumbling with the doorknob now, and so they both pulled away. “How exhausted do I have to be that I’m considering this?” Jane scoffed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, thank you,” Maura countered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not what I meant and you know it. This is just all so fucked, Maura. The whole situation is so fucked,” said Jane. She locked eyes with Maura, the multitudes she intended to communicate muddled without words to guide them, but enough to make Maura feel the hesitancy there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So take refuge from it for a few hours,” Maura pleaded. “With me. Alone, upstairs.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane nodded just in time for her brother to walk back in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane’s lips were on Maura’s in short, wet intervals the minute they cleaned up, went back to the main house, and Frankie said goodbye. She pulled at the hem of Maura’s sweater, watching her arms go up over her head in surrender. “There’s nothing you can ask that I’ll refuse,” Jane said, her dark hair pulled back from her face, showcasing her cheekbones and the curvature of her strong jaw as she whispered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura shook out her own hair when they tossed her sweater aside. “I know,” she replied, shifting on her feet to wrap her arms around Jane’s shoulders. She was barefoot, their height difference accentuated even further by Jane’s boots, and she loved it. She loved to feel as though Jane could hide her from the outside world, as though Jane could keep their problems at bay. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She also loved to imagine all that height, those long bones and broad shoulders, entwined with her body  - and Jane, with her hands rubbing up and down Maura’s sides and her tongue against Maura’s tongue, acted like she knew. “But… I’m sweaty and gross,” Jane said as she fumbled with Maura’s jeans, “and I’ve been cutting through drywall all day.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Trust me when I say that I don’t mind,” Maura replied into Jane’s parted lips. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane chuckled. “Don’t flatter me. I smell like-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You smell like plaster and sweat. You smell like you’ve been fixing my house. That’s sexy,” Maura said. They both laughed when she inhaled deeply at Jane’s pulse point of lavender perfume and PVC dust.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah, nothin’ sexier than plumbing must and stale perfume,” Jane said. “Should I shower?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” Maura huffed, “you should lay with me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lay with you, huh? You mean in the biblical sense?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, you are catholic.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. I’m being a bad one right now, though,” Jane said against Maura’s temple as they tumbled backwards onto the duvet together. Maura loved the way Jane breathed against her like even if they were sinning, she enjoyed it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d prefer it if you were even worse,” she replied, helping Jane with her clothes, especially given the bruises up and down her side. She shuddered at the heavy </span>
  <em>
    <span>thud </span>
  </em>
  <span>of Jane’s shoes hitting the carpet, shivered when a warm body, naked, slid up hers. They kissed like they had since the first time on her doorstep, both during the rehearsed times and the candid times - they kissed like two people who knew each other as well as they knew one another. Maura whined when she felt Jane, her best friend, palm the flesh at her hips and play a rhythm against her skin with those long fingers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You alright?” Jane asked, the words falling into Maura on the clouds of her panting. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maura opened Jane’s mouth by licking her lips and writhing beneath her. “I need you to touch me,” she said, taking Jane’s hand and dragging it down between them. Smooth fingertips and a rough scar ignited the skin of her belly, settling between her legs and caressing the wet skin there. Maura bit her bottom lip at the </span>
  <em>
    <span>up and down, </span>
  </em>
  <span>the explorative dip and caress that lit Jane’s eyes with fire; she spread her knees in instinct when her friend pushed up against her and inside of her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They said no more, making love to each other more in their heated glances and tight embraces than the exchange of orgasms. Maura lost herself in the way Jane got lost in her eyes: they touched noses and stared back at one another as they rolled around in the sheets, Maura grasping tight and Jane laying heavy against her. Maura did little more than gasp as Jane unraveled her piece by piece, using fingers and rhythm to finally make her come. When she returned the favor, licked her lover under the covers until she heard a string of breathless </span>
  <em>
    <span>fucks </span>
  </em>
  <span>dissipate into her bedroom air, she laid her head against Jane’s belly for long moments, searching out the thump of her aorta through muscle and viscera.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The late afternoon sun turned into the late evening darkness through an open window by the time that they finished, sweat-slicked and achy. Jane had done her communicating in the swipe of her tongue against Maura, or in the way she curled her fingers inside of her - even then, Maura counted her a mystery, a sexy series of closed doors and unreadable language, as she had been all day. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane didn’t bring it up as they laid together in bed, Maura half-draped over her abdomen, but that was to be expected. It would take a litany of pokes and prods, and a litany of hours to drag from Jane what she did not willingly want to share. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So, Maura left it for another time, eventually left Jane sleeping on her back, oblivious to the waking world, and walked downstairs to lock up. She looked out the window and waved to weekend evening lookout Officer Rachel Kelly, breathed in to steady her still-shaky legs as she turned out lights and armed the alarm. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Satisfied with her look-around, she found her way back to the soft glow of the lamp next to her bed, shaken by the sight of Jane, upper body propped up by pillows and eyes wide open. She was sleepy, but her brow was narrowed and her fingers fiddled with the small tub of Vicks VapoRub in her lap. She smiled in the way that she did when she cared for someone, but suspected that they might hurt her - closed lips and crinkled crow’s feet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It always made Maura weak. “Hi,” she said, pulling her robe tighter against her and leaning against the doorway. “I thought you were sleeping.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You left,” Jane replied simply.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” said Maura, “I just wanted to turn out the lights and lock up. Are you alright?” She tried to let Jane lead, but she couldn’t help it. She couldn’t wait while Jane found the guts to talk. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“C’mere,” Jane said, motioning with her head to the slim strip of mattress next to her. Maura smiled in a mirror of Jane’s previous one and pushed off the threshold with her hip, arms crossed. She sat, felt the warmth of Jane’s thigh at her own. They shared a heavy glance for a few seconds, Maura asking, Jane refusing to answer, and yet somehow they landed in a soft kiss. There was no press of teeth, no barely bridled passion, just the fullness of their lips moving together and lingering. Maura’s hands stroked Jane’s face, slid down to her shoulders. “Maura,” Jane whispered into her mouth, and Maura opened her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane looked to her chest and back up to her face. The pained smile returned. “What are you hidin’ from me?”</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. The Pair</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Bit of a time jump in this chapter, a little less than 24 hours. Don't worry, we'll circle back.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Maura?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The sound of her name being called from down the hall extracted Maura from Jane’s arms. “Yes, Frankie?” she called back, hoping that he didn’t get any closer to the bathroom, or notice that his sister was also missing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh! Sorry,” he mumbled from the other side of the door, voice warbled by the heat lamp’s fan. “You seen Janie? Ma’s looking for her.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“God dammit,” were the words that Jane whispered against Maura’s ear, while she stood against the vanity, Maura sitting on the counter and wrapping herself around Jane.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” Maura said against a sharp cheekbone as she released a breathy laugh. “She’s with me, Frankie,” at that, Jane yanked her head back to stare at Maura, who rolled her eyes. “Female… stuff.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane smirked. In many ways, both she and Maura knew, her brother was an enlightened man, an evolved one. But, he had a major flaw: even just hint at menstruation, and he high-tailed it out of the conversation. “oh-ok,” he stuttered, and they could hear him backing away towards the kitchen. “Sorry to interrupt.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The two friends, who moments ago had kissed with fervor under the lights above the mirror, shared a shaky exhale and a small smile. “I’m sorry,” said Maura again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“For what?” asked Jane, pulling herself away from the tangle of Maura’s legs and straightening her shirt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura watched her with a tame hunger as she leaned against the wall. “For having your brother almost walk in on us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane shrugged. “Hey, it takes two to tango. It’s not like you dragged me in here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura chuckled and ran a hand through her hair. “Definitely not. We both sort of just stumbled in.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s hard to take your clothes off and walk at the same time,” Jane said, the usual glint of humor in her eyes, “hence why we didn’t get very far.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just my shoes,” Maura replied, nodding her head toward the flats on the bathroom carpet. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane saw them, picked them up, handed them to her. “We better go out there. Ma’s clearly getting antsy.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura grabbed them with pursed lips and pushed them back on her feet. “Family dinner is important to her.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know. And it’s important to me, too. This is just more important,” Jane said. She stalked toward Maura, kissing her forehead and stepping forward to be embraced. Maura obliged, and that embrace turned heated again  - she beckoned Jane inward with the pull of her arms, a cradle against whatever raged outside the door. Jane, ever grateful for the refuge, kissed her, made her feel wanted as their lips tangled together and their tongues brushed. It was the first time since the night before that they had a moment to be alone with one another in this way, and even then, they constructed it out of sheer willpower and artful Angela-dodging. Gone were the walls and hurt feelings that had plagued their previous encounter; hurried desire had replaced it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The desire coursed through them both, as though it ran concurrent with their blood, and suddenly Maura felt Jane’s resolve crumble in her hands. It was a pleasurable crumble, nonetheless: it manifested itself in a long finger sliding inside of Maura, just enough to feel, just enough for her to wrap herself wetly around it as she moaned against the side of Jane’s face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then there was a forceful pounding at the door, and the sensation retreated as quickly as it had entered. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck.” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Maura whispered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This dinner is getting cold! You two better come eat; I don’t care if you’re flushing out the Red Sea, Janie!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura had enough sense to straighten her skirt and cross her legs before Angela burst through the door, but Jane was not so reserved. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Jesus</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Ma! Are you kidding me?!” she yelped. Maura imagined Jane cursed herself for not locking the door. “Like it’s not bad enough that you announce that to the entirety of our dinner party, but what if I had been mid-… you know?!” She whispered harshly as she thrust her index finger toward the toilet bowl.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then lock the door!” Angela snapped back. “Now please hurry, before you and your brother get called out to work. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Again</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” she said, turning around before getting an answer, signaling that the conversation was over. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura and Jane shared a look. “When they leave,” Maura said, and Jane reluctantly nodded, running a hand down her own face. “As soon as they leave.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura gathered herself and dismounted the vanity, standing and waiting for Jane to lead the way out. Angela had called upon all of them in the eye of the Alice Sands storm to have a meal together. No doubt she had seen the exhaustion and fear in all their faces, but Maura knew another reason: this morning, Angela had awoken to someone leaving something on Maura’s back porch. The item, a water bottle explosive, the cheap kind any gifted high school chemistry student could make, traumatized her, even though the boy leaving it couldn’t have been more than 17. Maura received the call from Angela at six in the morning, as she still slept under Jane’s arm, and she knew immediately that the bottle bomb was meant for her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And Jane’s presence had never felt more comforting, even though she was asleep. Angela waited inside in her robe and with a mug of spiked coffee while techs from BPD’s crime lab came and took the explosive away; while Jane and her team hunted the city for the boy who tried to kill the Chief Medical Examiner, Maura took refuge in the morning feeling of Jane making her bed heavy even after morning and sleep had long passed. Jane swore she’d kill him herself if she found him, a threat she had spoken often in recent days. Frustratingly, however, no trace of him was to be found - he vanished, as though into thin air or as though he melted into the asphalt itself. A task force of Patrol Officers and Bomb Techs still scoured every square inch of Beacon Hill and its environs, but Angela made sure that most of her family, biological and otherwise, made it to the table in Maura’s dining room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was where they all sat now, as she and Jane exited the restroom. Nina was the first to turn to them, beckoning them to the two seats next to her that she had saved. Maura and Jane shared their ages-old look of collusion, the one that shelved old conversations and started new ones all within the privacy of their own world.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry for the hold up, ladies,” said Jane, looking pointedly at Korsak and Frankie, no doubt the loudest complainers for food at the table.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura rolled her eyes. “Jane,” she said, her voice quiet and warm, just a tick below the words she had whispered against Jane moments before.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Eat, would you? Quit pickin’ on each other and eat,” Angela shushed them, and passed the bread basket around as a tool to shut everyone’s mouths. She used a spatula to serve herself lasagna, her go to mass-meal, passing that along as well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You guys find anything on that kid?” Jane asked after rolling her eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura chimed in. “Yes - I’d also like to know, given the seeming hotspot that is my home,” she said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, it’s like he vanished,” Korsak replied, scratching the arm under his rolled up sleeve. “No sightings, either. When we canvassed the block, no one had seen any teenage boy roaming the street. No-one had even been up, except for one guy, who said he’s seen Maura come out the back way alone for a jog a couple of times.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looked pointedly at Jane, who reddened at the same time as Maura. There was another look volleyed between them, this time a severe stare that had the furrowed brows and dark irises of a shared secret. “Well I wasn’t out this morning,” said Maura, “if that’s what he was insinuating.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Frankie shook his head. “Nah. Just an observation, I think. We’re still trying to figure out how that nosy neighbor could pick up on your habits but not see our little friend.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Angela sighed noisily as she ate, sharing a look with Kiki, passive-aggressively resigned to the fact that her children and friends would never </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>talk about work at the dinner table.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Soon after Frankie posited his conundrum, however, Nina started to choke on some water she had just swallowed. Her eyes grew wide as Maura patted in between her shoulder blades, but with epiphany, not fear. “I think I know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jesus, Nina, you alright?” Frankie and Jane asked in unison, appraising her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She nodded and coughed one last time. “Sorry, just some water down the wrong pipe,” she said. “But I think I know how he went undetected.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How’s that?” Kiki asked, just before a bite of food. The cops in the room waited on bated breath for the answer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The manhole covers near the side of the house. There are two; we were so busy looking out and up that we didn’t even consider down,” Nina replied.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well I’ll fucking be,” Jane said, dropping her napkin onto the table. “That’s it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s it,” Korsak mimicked. He shook his head and laughed. “Good work, Holiday.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Perfect, you solved it. Now can we eat as a family? Talk about some appropriate topics?” Angela begged.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No way, Ma. You know that,” Frankie said as everyone except for Kiki rose from the table. He and his sister kissed the top of their mother’s head half in apology and half in thanks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Dinner was the best, Ma. As always,” Jane called back, shrugging on her coat. Her voice carried notes of sadness and grit; Maura swiped a hand along the small of Jane’s back in the same kinesthetic </span>
  <em>
    <span>sorry </span>
  </em>
  <span>Angela had felt on her hair moments before.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura heard the stomp of Jane’s boots against the polished linoleum of her crime lab and suppressed a shiver. With Kent still on his way in and all other employees gone for the evening, they would be </span>
  <em>
    <span>alone</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey,” said Jane as she strolled to where Maura dusted several items for fingerprints. There were knick-knacks and snack wrappers from various convenience stores around the city, many rife with prints, but in a twist, she listened to her heart - and in that moment her heart told her they would find nothing connecting the trash to Alice Sands. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi,” she breathed out, focused on her task anyway, trying very consciously not to inhale Jane’s lavender as the detective closed the gap between them. She swallowed a gulp of steadying air. “I haven’t run anything yet.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane nodded, but Maura felt it more than saw it. “I figured. What’s your gut saying?” she asked, with a hand against Maura’s back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura turned, incredulous that she was even being asked such a question, but when she saw Jane’s simper under the fluorescents, she raised her eyebrow. “You better be careful, because I can make you wait until Kent gets here for processing,” she warned.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane feigned scandal, surprise. “You wouldn’t…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I would,” said Maura, chuckling. “You know I would,” she pulled Jane closer by the belt, waiting for the kiss she sensed at the end of Jane’s lips.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane lingered there, however, and curled her lips into a sensual smile instead. “It should be tonight. I want this to be over.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura only nodded her assent, her eyelids dropping as she gazed at the curve of Jane’s mouth, too distracted to really take in the gravity of her words. Thankfully, they seemed to have the same idea. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When the door to the morgue swung open, however, they broke apart. There was no jumping, no jerky pull-aways, only a lingering regret of having to separate when Korsak burst through the crime lab, a sheen of sweat on his face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You alright, old man?” Jane asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Korsak waved her off. “Air conditioning turns off after 6. It’s hot up there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“O..k..” Jane answered inquisitively.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What? You know how humid it is on the third floor? I’’m dyin’ here,” he said as he tugged at his own collar. “Anyway. We got her.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?!” Jane and Maura exclaimed in unison. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Korsak smiled so wide his eyes turned small. “We got her because we got the kid. Jeff West, 16. Honors student at Springfield Prep - she got sloppy, Jane. Paid this kid a couple hundred bucks to make the bomb and drop it off, and he gave her up.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You weren’t gonna tell me you found him?” Jane asked, brain slow, still processing. Then she heard the last bit of Korsak’s revelation. “What do you mean gave her up?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, he was still hanging around underground a few miles away. He told us where he met her. The first time was at a motel in back bay, where she had been hanging out, using the wifi to chat with him online. The second time was a cafe a few blocks away from that where he got the cash payment.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura nearly swooned at Jane’s manic body heat. “Was she at the motel?” She nearly squeaked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, that’d be too easy. But it seems to be where she was setting up these past few days. We got computers, an empty gun bag, some fake IDs, extra drone parts. Wherever she’s at, she probably knows she won’t be able to go back there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But she’s in the area,” Jane bit, “and she’s too broke to go very far. If she doesn’t have one already, she’d have to steal a car to get far enough away and that’s way too risky for her right now,” she reasoned as she looked only at Maura.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura turned red for the attention. “Well, Sergeant, go. Do your job, it sounds like you’re nearly there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Korsak wanted to smile at the statement, but he knew neither woman would see it. “I’ll be keeping you updated, Jane. Once we clear the local T and bus stations and narrow it down to a few places to stake out, I’ll even let you join Frankie in an unmarked.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh how kind of you,” Jane snarked, finally turning to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah yeah,” Korsak waved her off, “don’t roam too far. Either stay home or stay here, in case you get the call soon.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane nodded to his back as he pushed through the doors of the crime lab back toward the elevator. She nearly pounced on Maura as she turned. “They won’t find her tonight.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura leaned in again. “Not on their own. Jane?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah?” Jane gruffed, close enough to snatch the resulting hitch in Maura’s voice on her tongue.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My parents’ house is in back bay,” Maura said simply.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Perfect. Do me a favor, and respond to this angry text I’m about to send you. Then I’m gonna get Frankie down here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. The Pact</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The first section of this chapter is a flashback, hence why it is in italics. It continues from the events of the very end of chapter 11.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <span>“C’mere,” Jane said, motioning with her head to the slim strip of mattress next to her. Maura smiled in a mirror of Jane’s previous one and pushed off the threshold with her hip, arms crossed. She sat, felt the warmth of Jane’s thigh at her own. They shared a heavy glance for a few seconds, Maura asking, Jane refusing to answer, and yet somehow they landed in a soft kiss. There was no press of teeth, no barely bridled passion, just the fullness of their lips moving together and lingering. Maura’s hands stroked Jane’s face, slid down to her shoulders. “Maura,” Jane whispered into her mouth, and Maura opened her eyes.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Yes?”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Jane looked to her chest and back up to her face. The pained smile returned. “What are you hidin’ from me?”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Maura felt transported back to her previous nakedness. She was exposed, sheepish, alive in the way that Jane </span>
  </em>
  <span>always </span>
  <em>
    <span>saw all of her. She oscillated between complete transparency and foolish obfuscation, self-preservation threatening to undercut all the intimacy she and Jane erected between them, amongst them, around them. “I…”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“And don’t lie to me,” Jane commanded, though it was soft, though her hand ran circles across Maura’s back. Jane took away her ability to sabotage their union with that command, and yes, Maura loved her for it. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“I know something,” Maura began, and Jane sat up straighter. She twitched her nose and her eyes narrowed in a hard line. When Maura felt the stare begin to seep through her, to unravel her, she shook her head, taking Jane’s face in her hands. “But don’t do this. Don’t let Detective Rizzoli in here,” she continued, using her thumbs to bring Jane’s eyelids closed, Jane who released a rickety breath at the action, “just listen to me.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Ok,” Jane nodded, and pulled Maura into her again, kissing her as the sheet between them rustled with friction. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Maura whimpered when soft hands became insistent against her shoulders, her back, her hips. She threw her leg over Jane’s body, now straddling her, deepening everything about their embrace. When Jane fisted the back of her robe high enough to expose her ass to the open air, Maura bucked and threw her head back in a moan.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“What do you know, Maura?” Jane asked against Maura’s neck, tongue starting inside her own mouth, but then ending broad and flat against the thunder in Maura’s carotid. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Maura thought the question should have shrunk the flames of her desire, but that desire continued to burgeon. She knew, however, that as soon as she whispered her confession, the flame may very well get snuffed out. So, she reached between them and yanked at the sash of her robe, and it fell open, fluttered away from her shoulders to hang on her elbows. She then anchored her fingers inside of Jane, too - Jane who yelped at the sensation and then sank her teeth into the soft flesh of Maura’s throat - in order to stoke the burn beyond her next statement. “Alice wants me dead, not you. At least not right now.” Jane grunted, froze, but didn’t push Maura away. Maura took it as a sign to continue, using her hips to leverage deeper into the woman below her. “All of it has been about me.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Jane looked up at Maura then, severe again, with a tinge of pleasure reddening her cheeks. This softened Maura - she gently nipped at Jane’s eyebrow, wanting to absorb the way it translated kinesthesia into emotion, wanting to consume the way the movement made Jane herself</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“The apartment,” Jane choked out.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Maura nodded, sucking up Jane’s hot breath when she felt fingernails trail down her back. “The life insurance.” She said as they writhed.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“The champagne?” Jane gruffed in tandem, through teeth now clenched against a nipple, Maura’s, as her blood pressure rose. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Maura shrieked at the feeling of Jane’s bite and sped up the pace of her fingers. “Sent to me,” she managed to eek out.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“The pictures-” Jane whispered.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Of you, saying a prayer for me,” Maura said through a high pitched break. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>The watch-” Jane’s breathing hitched, finally, their lips clinging together in an amalgam of passion and wetness, her body stiffening until the waning waves of orgasm passed through her.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Where </span>
  </em>
  <span>I</span>
  <em>
    <span> would find it, baby,” Maura replied through another kiss. They stayed that way for long seconds, Jane regulating her breathing again, and all of Maura’s fingers now splaying across strong shoulders. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“She took you,” Jane gulped, finally looking into Maura’s eyes again, “she had him take you to get to me. This was an unfair interrogation tactic, by the way, Detective Isles,” she puffed. The strand of hair in front of her eyes flew up with it.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Maura smirked because her body wouldn’t let her laugh; she rolled over on her back and beckoned Jane to lay on top of her. Jane did. “More like a persuasion tactic. She had him take me to get rid of me, Jane,” she whispered, “she wants me gone.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“So let’s say you’ve convinced me,” Jane started.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Have I convinced you?” Maura volleyed back.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Let’s say you have,” Jane reiterated, “what are you </span>
  </em>
  <span>really </span>
  <em>
    <span>saying, Smartypants?”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Maura closed her eyes to luxuriate in the moment, to relish the heaviness of Jane’s body against her, to think about all the ways they touched one another and how all those ways set her skin ablaze, for what she was about to say could throw it all away. “I’ve been trying to draw her out,” she said against Jane’s cheek, grabbing onto her shoulders tight as if to physically will Jane to continue to want her, to continue to stay calm.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“I know,” Jane said, slumping even further so that her words were muffled by Maura’s hair and a pillow case, “I just didn’t know why.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“It’s the best idea I could think of.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“It’s a shit idea.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“I know. But what else do we have?”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“You could have brought me in, told me what you were thinking.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Maura actually scoffed. “You would have laughed me out of the house for even considering putting myself in danger.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Didn’t I listen to you just now?” Jane asked.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Maura considered this. “I suppose you did. But I… optimized the environment.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Maura knew Jane blushed not because she could see her face, but because the blush traveled to her shoulders. “I refuse to let you do this alone, Maura.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Which is why I didn’t ask, Jane.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“What was your plan for when she got you, huh?” Jane pried, propping her head up, leaning on her elbow, searching Maura’s eyes for any shred of logic.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“My plan was for you to save me,” said Maura as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “You always save me.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Jane grimaced, holding her features in a look of pain until she cried. “I can’t ever guarantee that,” the tears made her voice hoarse, shaky. “I don’t know that it will work out.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“What I’m saying is that I do. I know. You’ve had such a tight rein on me and everyone else that you don’t think you would notice as soon as one of us so much as sneezed out of place?” Maura finally chuckled, a release, a relief.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Jane sniffled loudly at the break in tension, and Maura wiped a hand over Jane’s face to banish the wetness on her cheeks. When the hand was removed, Jane’s brow curled up again. Her mouth was a thin, thinking, line. “I know you said no being a cop right now, but hear me out.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“I’m listening,” Maura replied, curiosity taking over.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“What if we just pretended to get you alone?”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“What do you mean?”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Couples fight, right? Let’s fight like I fought with Ortiz the other night. I get belligerent and you drive off in a huff.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Maura smirked wickedly in response. “You’re smart. I like that about you.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Jane hummed. “I’m glad you’re open to my Jerry Springer idea.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“I am. But how do we separate without truly being separated?”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“We have to figure out just the right place for you to go so that we control all the elements. We also have to talk to Frankie. See if he remembers how to ride in the trunk of a car.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>***</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Remind me what I’m doin’ down here when I should be canvassing the entirety of back bay for people who know Alice?” Frankie ambled into the autopsy suite, waving his phone at his sister.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane nodded to him. “You know, Constance and Arthur live other there,” she said. She crossed her arms and leaned against the empty table. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura rolled her eyes. “Please, Frankie. Come talk with us. I think you’ll be very interested in what we have to say.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, that’s one word for it,” Jane griped as she tugged on her belt and held her arm out for her brother and Maura to follow, “at least get a free cup of coffee.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ok…” Frankie said. He looked between Jane and Maura, but agreed easily enough. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sit, please,” said Maura. She turned on her coffee machine, watched Jane sit next to Frankie on the sofa and pat his knee. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They conversed as easily in hushed tones as they shouted. “How’re you doin’, huh? Doin’ ok?” Asked Jane, seriously, and Maura’s heart contracted with pleasure. Jane’s matriarchal protection swam deep in its ventricles, and on its way to Maura’s brain the blood screamed </span>
  <em>
    <span>this is a good mate. </span>
  </em>
  <span>She resolved quietly, within herself, to convince Jane of the same when this all blew over. </span>
  <em>
    <span>If it all blew over</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean things are finally movin’,” said Frankie. He shrugged his shoulders.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, how’re you feeling?” Prodded Jane, knocking her shoulder into his.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m ok, Janie. I’m tired. But I mean, none of this is happening to me, so I suck it up, you know?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Bullshit, Frankie. It’s happening to you, too. Not in the same way, maybe, but it’s happening to all of us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, that’s why it needs to be over.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s actually what we wanted to talk to you about,” Maura said as she brought three mugs, piping hot, to the table.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Frankie accepted his gratefully, and smiled with his full lips. “Oh yeah? We, huh?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shut up,” Jane made a face at him, “I want you to listen to me and I want you to not get mad.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Frankie gave her a quizzical look then. “What do you mean, mad? Why would I get mad?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If you were quiet long enough for me to talk, you might catch my drift,” Jane scolded. He held up his hands, so she continued. “Maura and I have been doing something reckless, and stupid.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How stupid?” Frankie cautioned, leaning forward.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t say stupid at all,” Maura interjected, and when two Rizzoli heads shot in her direction, she amended. “Reckless, for sure. That I’ll admit.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well what the hell have you been doing?” Frankie asked. His eyes darted from his sister to her… to Maura. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’ve uh, well,” Jane began, suddenly devoid of the confidence she had used to call him down to the crime lab. “We established a pattern of Alice’s aggression toward me in regards to my relationship to Maura. And…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And I helpfully pointed out that Alice seemed to be in love with your sister, which is why she has been trying so hard to isolate her from everyone who cares about her. So…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So we came up with a plan to… pretend to be in a relationship in order to draw her out,” Jane rushed the words out, and Maura turned pink with them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Frankie looked thoroughly confused. “And what exactly did this plan entail?” He asked, “you two didn’t seem different at all.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Thoughts of sweat and nakedness stormed through Maura’s mind when he said that. “We’ve been.. insinuating a relationship through text and over the phone. We’ve also been taking time this past week to conveniently </span>
  <em>
    <span>disappear </span>
  </em>
  <span>in hotel rooms,” she murmured.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’ve…” as it sunk in for Frankie, Maura caught sight of Jane sinking her head in time with him, “you’ve been breaking off your detail to go rogue?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>There it is</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Maura stifled a smile as Jane’s right eye closed in a wince. “Sometimes…?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Three times,” Maura said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What the hell!” Frankie set his mug down and shouted. “Are you two out of your mind?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It was my idea, Frankie. I wanted this to be over. I needed this to be over,” it was Maura that rose to him, not Jane, “I would do anything to end this and keep your sister safe.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This tempered him. “Me too, Maura. But ending it means nothing if one or both of you is lost in the process.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane squeezed his hand. “You’re a good brother, kid,” she said, “and I’m gonna need your help tonight.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He squeezed back and looked into Maura’s eyes. He considered them for a moment, considered the idea that he could be left out or he could be part of his sister’s solution. Action always won out. “Anything. What do you need?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lemme explain to you on the way to Maura’s car.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can’t believe you,” Maura seethed, slamming her driver’s door on her Prius. She snatched her purse from the front seat and marched toward the front door, and left Jane in the dust. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Get off your fucking high horse,” Jane growled at Maura’s back, trotting in order to get through the door before Maura slammed it in her face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura turned at that moment, wagging her finger in Jane’s face, “Don’t you </span>
  <em>
    <span>dare </span>
  </em>
  <span>equate the two. We are </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>the same.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane turned the keys that were already in the lock and shoved the door open. “Get in the house,” she growled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura jumped when she entered and Jane slammed the door behind them. She shivered when Jane threw her head in the direction of the stairs. They jogged up together, taking the steps two at a time. When they were in the sanctuary of Maura’s bedroom, the door closed and the humidifier kicked on, they met in a searing kiss. “This is it,” Maura breathed, grabbing wildly at Jane’s t-shirt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane groaned; she pulled away to look into Maura’s eyes, and she put her hands on Maura’s shoulders, “I’m going to say some crazy, Italian shit to you, Maura.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh Jane,” Maura chuckled on the wings of a sigh, “I won’t take it personal.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We… should we talk about this?” Jane asked, but Maura read in the timber of her voice her hesitancy. “Before we go out there?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura threaded her fingers in the hair at the nape of Jane’s neck and scratched her there. “Save it for when we end this. Give us something to look forward to.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You think it’s gonna be a good conversation, huh?” Jane’s deflection fell flat when she hummed at the affection.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura locked their gazes together when she spoke, “Is it not going to be? Tell me you don’t feel this. Tell me you never want to sleep with me again.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was Jane - all rugged smile and salacious embrace, the Jane that drew Maura in. Maura reveled in the way that her words imbued Jane with confidence. “You know I can’t do that. I can’t tell you either of those things.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What </span>
  <em>
    <span>can </span>
  </em>
  <span>you tell me?” Maura asked, raising her eyebrow. Why not play for a little bit? She tried not to dwell on the remote, but still present, possibility that this is the last conversation with Jane she would have. Instead she flirted with the way Jane pawed at her hips, inhaled her perfume.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know, I’m more of a doer,” Jane shrugged easily. When Maura pulled from her lips and scowled, Jane revised. “I can tell you that I’m gonna have a lot of things to say after this shit is all over.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura accepted this. If Jane was courageous enough to make a commitment to talking about her feelings, to promise the processing of her feelings beyond the here and now, Maura could take an educated empirical leap that she was </span>
  <em>
    <span>very much </span>
  </em>
  <span>going to like the results of that conversation. “Then we should go. Though I don’t know why you’re making me wear this baggy monstrosity,” she said as she tugged at the Celtics sweatshirt on her bed, seriousness never quite making it to her voice when she and Jane both knew it was one of her favorites.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When she changed and stood at the mouth of the door, waiting to be led, it was Detective Rizzoli, however, who took the reins in answer. “She’s in the throes, Maura - see something of mine on you and she could go ballistic. Plus it hides the kevlar pretty good. Ok, so here’s how it’s going to go: we’re going to walk down the stairs, and you’re going to wait for me as I establish the perimeter. Once the cameras are clear, we’ll do it, just like we practiced this morning. But you have to get mad, Maura. Mad enough that she believes it when you speed away.” Only Detective Rizzoli used clinical words like </span>
  <em>
    <span>perimeter </span>
  </em>
  <span>and </span>
  <em>
    <span>clear</span>
  </em>
  <span> to describe the messiest of actions and reactions, all death-defying in some way or another, as though to sanitize them to Maura. As though to convince her that all of this cop work were noble enough to continue. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura wasn’t quite sure, in the culmination of all they had been through, gone through, put each other through over the years, that it was. But, the nod came easy enough to her, and she took a breath in as they both descended the stairs. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. The Power</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Maura, eyes crazed and makeup smudged, in uncharacteristically rumpled sweats and her hoodie, threw open her front door, not bothering to swing it shut again. She halted her march toward the Prius parked on the street outside her home, and scoured the bottom of her purse for the keys. She exhaled loudly, the sound echoing off of the old buildings in her neighborhood. She found them, then dropped them, and that gave enough time for Jane to come running out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So you’re just gonna leave, huh?” Jane interrogated, still in work clothes, “just gonna walk out on me?” If Maura performed wildness, then Jane embodied it. She looked beautiful, dangerous against the inky sky so characteristic of the New England autumn, and her snarl fit the moment in a way that acting never could.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I need space, Jane,” Maura answered back, staying quiet as Jane raised her voice. “I need to think.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Think about what?” Jane shouted. “Think about how fucking reckless you’ve been?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This gave Maura pause. She stood ramrod straight. “I find it </span>
  <em>
    <span>very </span>
  </em>
  <span>ironic that you, of all people, are lecturing me about recklessness, especially after all the times I’ve begged you to be safer.” She projected more, got loud.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So imagine my surprise when I find out you’ve been shrugging off your detail to go prancing around Boston Common! Or to go pick up food! Was the sub sandwich worth it, Maura? Was it?” Jane brought all of her physicality, her stormy walk and talk, into Maura’s space, and Maura bristled with attraction. She felt the pull, so antithetical to the insults spilling out of Jane’s mouth.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So, she reached deep, found some of the anger that she had buried in order to accept Jane’s negligent heroism over the years. “Do you know how I felt when you shot yourself? Or when you let that man almost blow you away in my father’s hospital room? Or when you jumped off that bridge? How does that compare to going for a run?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane scoffed. “I get paid to put my life on the line. You’re doing this shit for fun, or worse, because of some stubborn need for freedom in the middle of all this shit.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura let the ancient, familiar acrimony bubble over, carry her through this dance. “You get paid to catch killers, Jane. You don’t get paid to see how close you can get to death without leaping over the edge.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane pulled back just a bit, sensing the realness in the jabs being leveled at her. Maura saw the need to soothe in Jane’s eyes, her natural protectiveness at the fore, but they both needed to remember the moment. “It’s all part of it. It just is, and if you can’t accept that, maybe we should just stop this right now. Maybe we shouldn’t be together. Maybe when </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> leave tonight, I should leave and not come back.” She yelled, pointing back toward the highway that would take her all the way back to the North End where she came from.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At this, lights turned on in the surrounding homes, and dogs started to bark. Jane and Maura barely registered the porch light flicker in the courtyard outside the guesthouse. Angela, in pajamas, a robe, and some slippers, came bounding out to the street in sleep-mussed hair. “Janie, Maura, what’s going on? Is everything ok?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane nearly faltered. Maura looked toward Angela, frightened at what this might mean for their plan. But Jane, dedicated, passionate Jane, recovered and pushed forward. “Butt out, Ma,” she swiveled her pointer finger from Maura to her mother and then back again. “You’re being ridiculous, Maura. You’re being stupid.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura gathered enough resolve to finish their fight, with words that surprised her in their ease. “And you’re a hypocrite. Don’t call me,” she spat. She jogged to her car, threw it into drive, and sped away as noisily as a Prius would allow. In her rearview mirror she saw Jane turn her ire from the street to Angela, who stood resolute at the gate.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It would have to have been sufficient. They screamed at each other in a much more convincing way than she had initially intended. She shivered as memories of the sound of bullets whizzing by her head at Korsak’s reception entered her mind, how many times even in the past few weeks they could have had to say goodbye to one another. She had to steady her breathing as she turned onto Charles Street, suddenly acutely aware of how dangerous all of this was. Luckily, the middle console of the back seat was down, was open, leaving a small hole that led to the trunk space. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Frankie didn’t dare poke his head out, but he spoke. “You guys did good back there. I believed it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura barked a laugh, more out of stress than humor. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Frankie didn’t take it as a sign to shut up. “Remind me to get on Janie’s level with the undercover stuff,” he commented, and Maura wondered if he knew how comforting he could be.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A little bit of warmth re-suffused her body at his deflection. “She’s definitely something, isn’t she?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Frankie laughed then, too. “Yeah, I guess that’s one way of putting it.” He was quiet for several minutes, only speaking again when they merged onto Beacon Street, “that shit sounded real, Maura.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura hadn’t realized how much of a burden it had been to carry her attraction to Jane alone until he shouldered a bit of it. She figured then that he must have known the effect he had on her, on all of them. A quiet and unassuming pillar of strength who never complained, or waivered. “I…” still, she contemplated hiding, knowing all of this about him, not wanting to bog him down. Thankfully, the thought dissipated when it was time to slow towards the chic condo buildings of the back bay. “That shit </span>
  <em>
    <span>was </span>
  </em>
  <span>real, Frankie. Well, most of it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I figured. She’s got a real hard head, you know? As long as you’ve been on her ass to be careful, we’ve been doing it since she was, like, five,” he said, getting quiet, serious.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura nodded and looked again to her rearview mirror.  She narrowed her gaze when a motorcycle pulled away from a residential building not far from her parent’s house. “Frankie?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know, Maura, if you and my sister got together, I think all of us would breathe a sigh of-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Frankie, someone on a bike just started following us,” Maura cut him off. She cursed her eye, her timing, when he was being the most gallant of friends. Of brothers. But, her pulse roared into overdrive as the bike followed steadily, with no patience for stealth. When Maura turned into the multi-million dollar back bay neighborhood of her parents, the motorcycle gunned behind her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shit, ok,” Frankie said, turning into Detective Rizzoli Part II. “How long until we get to your parents’ place?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe a minute or two?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, tell me what you’re seeing. Male, female?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hard to tell for sure, but they look female,” Maura gulped. She heard Frankie unholster his firearm. “Getting closer.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just go to the house, Maura. Your folks aren’t there, right?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, they’re at a symposium in England. My father is speaking.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ok good. Christ, how did she find us so fast?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jane thinks she has our phones bugged. She also thinks she’s been flying drones on my street, and that’s how she’s been getting pictures of us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Makes sense,” Frankie reasoned, “she really is a crazy bitch. Tell me when we pull into the garage.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ok, ok,” Maura nodded, gripping the steering wheel with fear. She felt sweat trickle down her back as she turned behind her parent’s palatial home. “We’re nearly there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright. Just breathe, ok? It’s gonna be ok, I’m here. Jane knows where we are. When you pull in, open the hatch back. You’ll have to do it quickly, because we don’t know if she’s armed.” There it was again, Rizzoli sanitation. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Armed</span>
  </em>
  <span>, when what Frankie really meant was </span>
  <em>
    <span>she could blow both of our heads off if we don’t play this exactly right.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“As soon as I pull in, Frankie, promise,” Maura mustered as much confidence as she could, popped open her glove compartment to find the garage door button Constance had given her years ago, exhaling a shaky breath when she found it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She pulled in next to her mother’s Land Rover, and sure enough, the motorcycle parked behind her longways, to prevent any exit. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura opened the driver side door, stepped out. The hydraulics of her hatchback hissed when she pressed its button.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The woman on the back of the bike dismounted, removed her helmet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was Alice Sands. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alice Sands with a large caliber handgun in her shaking fist. “Maura,” she purred, pupils wide and stance aggressive.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s over, Sands,” Frankie bellowed, still semi-horizontal in Maura’s trunk, but gun trained on Alice. She jumped, and then waved her gun at him before returning it to its path towards Maura. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Move, and I’ll kill her now,” she looked to Frankie, but kept the Desert Eagle level with Maura’s chest. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He’ll take you out,” Maura said, deathly quiet, deathly calm, but with her hands still up. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let him,” Alice spat. “I’ll have enough time to watch you die.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But you’re afraid to die,” Maura smirked, the thrill of deduction making her beautiful in the sallow garage lighting, “Otherwise you would have shot me already. You’re afraid to die without seeing her again.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alice’s haunted glare fell for a split second. She said nothing, but didn’t pull the trigger, either. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll be honest. I’m afraid of the same thing, right now. Never seeing her again.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jane’s next, trust me,” Alice finally recovered. “That’s part of why I want out of here alive. Just long enough to get to her.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You love her,” Maura said simply. She dared not take any steps forward, but she lowered her elbows just a couple of inches. “You’re in love with her.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alice actually scoffed. “She ruined my life.” Her finger shook on the trigger and Maura’s heart leapt into her throat. “She took away my chance to carry on my family’s legacy.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You can come second in your class and still be one hell of a cop,” Maura said, blowing Alice’s thin logic away, “you’re clearly very intelligent. Capable of a lot, at least. That’s not why you’ve been doing all this. That’s not why you’ve been after me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alice smirked. “You’re smart, too. Stage a fight so that I think you’re alone,” she said, nodding toward Frankie, “I’ll admit I didn’t see that one coming. Jane’s different than she was in the academy. More cunning.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why have you still not killed me, then?” Maura’s spot-on read made her brash, made her bold. She tossed a glance Frankie’s way, to establish that he was alive, that his gun was still trained on Alice. It was.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I decided that I want her to watch me do it,” Alice replied, and she shrugged. Her reddish brown hair, some of it stuck to her temples, accentuated the fire lighting up her skin with sweat, with blush, with tremor. She clearly felt strongly about this particular part of her new plan. “She’ll eventually be on her way, right? I want to watch her watch you die. For her to realize it was a mistake to get so close to you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura shuddered, as much to herself as she could, when Alice made her intentions clear. She had known it, for a while now. Known what Alice wanted, how Alice wanted to hurt Jane. Alice saw Jane’s heart in a way that few did, most probably from the intense study of Jane she orchestrated from within and outside of prison. Study Jane long enough, make her your muse long enough, and it would become abundantly clear that her entire life revolved around Maura. The richness of Jane’s life, the contours of her joy and her passion and her intensity, stemmed from Maura. Maura moved through the world with confidence, lived with arrogance, because she had buried herself inside of Jane - brash, opinionated, apex predator Jane - so deep, there was no extracting her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This thought imbued her with heady strength when she noticed Jane approach in silence from around the end of Alice’s bike, close to the building across from them. Her gun was drawn and her steps were measured. She had the perfect shot, Alice completely unaware of her presence and gun trained right between her shoulder blades, except for one tiny component: the Desert Eagle still pointed right at Maura. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So, Maura decided that she would help. Enough small talk, only the truth would set them free. “Jane, I would imagine, is very different from her academy days.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alice raised an eyebrow in confusion. “I’m sorry?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you know why that is?” Maura even put her hands down at her sides. This made Alice step closer, and Frankie growled Maura’s name in warning, but Maura persisted. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Please, enlighten me. I’ve known her for almost twenty years. The fact that… that you think there’s something you know that I don’t…” Alice mirrored Maura’s assurance with a crazed twist.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura narrowed her eyes in the best impression of Detective Rizzoli that she could muster. “The way she carries herself? The way she walks, talks, like nothing can touch her? That’s me. That’s me inside of her, making her strong. The way she </span>
  <em>
    <span>hunted </span>
  </em>
  <span>you, like a dog? The way she vowed, in the late hours of the night, alone with me in my kitchen, in my arms, to kill you? That’s me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alice nearly howled with rage. “Bitch,” she whispered as she lifted her feet to charge, but before she could raise her gun again to blow Maura away, Maura screamed her gamble.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jane!” She yelled, a cacophony of sound waves bouncing around them and then outside, paired with a snap of her head to where Jane stood across the alleyway. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And the gamble worked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At the sound of Jane’s name, at the hurried look in Jane’s direction, Alice turned. In milliseconds, Maura noted the hitch in Alice’s breath, the dilation of her pupils, the swoon in her swivel, and it was enough. Alice’s love for Jane was enough to draw her away from Maura and into Jane’s deadly orbit - enough to squander her purpose, enough for Alice to throw away her magnum opus in order to lay eyes on Jane. And it was enough for Jane - her bullet lodged into Alice’s chest in half a second, taking her down. Crumbling her into the gravel just outside the garage. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane let out an obscene yell as Alice fell, reminiscent of her indulgent joy in sport, her arms culminating in two crossing fists at her belt buckle, the cephalic veins in her forearms popped and swollen with victory, with emotion, as she shouted into the murky Boston air.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In all her years of having worked with Jane, in all her years of having loved her, Maura had never seen her celebrate a kill - let alone celebrate it as a physical triumph. Jane’s eyes were dark, hungry, until she stepped over the threshold of the garage, stepped over Alice, and smashed Maura’s body into her own. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura immediately inhaled Jane’s cortisol-heavy sweat and it made her want to crawl inside of her. She clawed at Jane’s shoulders, her back, sure she was leaving marks but not caring. The slide and hammer of Jane’s firearm pressed into her hip as she stood on the tips of her toes to touch Jane’s face to her own. She bit her own lip at the pressure, letting the pleasure of it surge unfettered through her for just a few moments. Frankie had crawled out of his perch, was standing behind them, but smartly waiting in silence. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How are you? You good? Hurt at all?” When Jane saw her, her gaze was soft again, and her voice cooed on the edge of tears. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, I’m sorry you had to be at the business end of a .44 like that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura shook her head. “You remember when I said I would do anything to keep you safe? This falls under the umbrella of ‘anything.’”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane kissed her, all lips and teeth and tongue - clearly the desire to collide was mutual. Maura slid back down to stand flat-footed on the concrete, pulling Jane’s face down to her own, Jane willing on the descent, her still-shaky hand out against the Prius. When Maura felt Jane’s other hand creep under her hoodie and tattoo her belly, skin against skin, Frankie cleared his throat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura’s eyes flew open then, as did Jane’s, and they separated. “H-how, uh, how you doin’, Janie?” He asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane gathered herself and turned around to face her brother. She held her wrist up to her forehead to wipe some of the sweat away. “Dunno yet, little brother. Honestly? The first feeling was dominance. Felt good to win.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Frankie whistled, his hands on his hips. “Me too. I won’t tell - but that was a hell of a shot. What about you, Maura? You ok?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura blushed at the attention and the feeling of being caught. “I’m so </span>
  <em>
    <span>fucking</span>
  </em>
  <span> happy it’s over,” she finally replied.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Both of the Rizzoli siblings laughed openly at that. “No kidding,” they said in unison. Frankie stepped forward to form a triangle with the two women. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re not gonna ask about…” Jane trailed off, waving a hand between herself and Maura. Maura stuffed her hands in the hoodie’s front pocket to ground herself. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You got something to tell me?” He asked his sister in response.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not yet,” Jane said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then nope, I’m not.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura </span>
  <em>
    <span>loved </span>
  </em>
  <span>the Rizzolis. Love them. But especially these two with their secret code and sexy respect for each other. </span>
  <em>
    <span>For each other’s secrets. </span>
  </em>
  <span>When Frankie came in and hugged them both, one by one, she grasped him tight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Call it in,” Jane ordered when they finished the loud clap of their embrace, “and if anyone asks, it went down how it went down. We fought, you rode with Maura to calm her down at her parents’ place, and I just happened to follow behind.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sounds like the truth to me, Janie. I’m on it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. The Proclamation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>We are finally at the end of this ride. I hope you all have enjoyed it as much as I have. I started out wanting to explore the fake dating trope and also to rewrite what I felt was a dissatisfying end to the Alice Sands arc in the show. I'm pretty happy with the result. :)</p>
<p>Until next time!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It was well after 2 AM by the time the scene was cleared and Alice’s body removed. Maura shivered in the cloudy cold as she answered Korsak’s questions, giving him the truth of the surface, a well-orchestrated field operation so interwoven with reality and with feeling that she struggled to extricate their lie from it. Nina spoke with Frankie, who had embedded himself into their narrative so seamlessly as to enhance it, lend weight to it, and they were finally released to just </span>
  <em>
    <span>go home. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Frankie ended up hitching a ride with Nina and Korsak, and this led Maura to the passenger side of Jane’s unmarked. “Do you want me to drive?” She asked Jane over the roof of the car as they approached their respective doors. She knew how tired Jane was when the detective leaned her elbows on the car and shook her head, just for the respite of a few moments of rest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No I’m ok,” Jane said, and Maura knew she would answer this way. Jane would choose to drive the unmarked unless somehow incapacitated - those were the rules and she intended to follow them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright,” Maura smiled tiredly as she stepped into the car and buckled her seatbelt. Jane shuffled into the driver’s seat wordlessly, heaving out  a sigh when she clipped her own belt in. They both removed their kevlar and tossed the vests into the backseat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maura…” she said on the end of that sigh, putting the key in the ignition, but not turning it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, not in your car,” Maura replied firmly, “not when it smells like four day old coffee. Have more respect for me than that,” she glared good-naturedly in Jane’s direction.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane groaned, but blushed at the gesture. “Ok. When?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tonight is fine,” Maura replied. The car started and they pulled away onto Gloucester toward Beacon Street, home stretch. “But let’s do it at home. It’s been a long day.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fair enough,” said Jane, left hand tugging at the bottom of the steering wheel. Her other draped over the console like it usually did, the picture of practiced nonchalance. But Maura caught the tick in Jane’s fingers, the way they played a silent tune against a nonexistent piano, the way they drummed out the song of her nervousness.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They then drove the longest six minutes in existence back to Beacon Hill. Maura stretched her neck from one side to the other to loosen the muscles there, but it didn’t help the flutter in her lower spine when Jane cut the engine and got out to open the door for her. The gesture had been leveled her way a thousand times, but somehow it took on a new and dangerous electricity in light of their situation. She let Jane press a palm against her back as they walked, and they had nearly made it home free until Angela came running out of the courtyard toward them. She froze when she saw them so close, clearly united again. Her question cracked as it came out. “So I take it you two made up?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane smiled, turned to her mother, and nodded. When she held her arms open, Angela hiccuped a laugh and then stepped into them. “It’s alright, Ma. It’s over. She’s gone.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Angela cried harder then, and Maura felt tears at the back of her eyes when she watched Jane hold up her own mother by the shoulders. She stepped closer to them, anxious for their heat, even through the release of tears. Jane and Angela were picking up the pieces of her family and building them back together, and Maura wanted a hand in it. So, she reached out and touched, open palms on the both of them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ugh,” Angela pulled back and reclaimed her voice through mucus and tears. When Maura’s hand fell from her back, she intertwined her own fingers with it. “So, you got her, huh?” she asked Jane.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane shook her head. “Nah, Maura did. I just pulled the trigger.” And nothing else needed to be said. Maura marveled at how unconfused Angela was by the statement, but she came alive with attention and approval when Angela finally looked her in the eye. “That’s good work, Maura. I knew I could count on you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane, however, </span>
  <em>
    <span>was </span>
  </em>
  <span>confused. She raised an eyebrow to her mother’s approval. Maura only half-smiled in response, with eyes dark. “Should I ask what’s going on here?” Jane’s words brought her back to the chilly reality of the early morning.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There’s nothing going on here, Jane. Go inside, get some sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow - I’m just so happy you’re ok,” Angela shook her head in clear contrast to her words; she shook her head as if she knew everything that Jane did not, all the most important things that Jane still needed to name. Maura knew those things too, which is why she tugged on Jane’s hand and let Angela’s go. Jane followed her lead, saying goodnight to her mother and boring holes into Maura’s back with her stare as Maura opened the front door. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m gonna need a beer for this,” Jane announced when they finally hit the heated air of Maura’s home. She glided past Maura, who had kicked her shoes off in the entryway, and went straight for the fridge, grabbing the Peroni and hovering a few moments with her front still in the door’s reflection. Maura stopped at the island and waited. “You want something?” Jane asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m too tired and too nervous to drink,” Maura answered, shrugging. She willed Jane to turn, to look at her again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As if on command, Jane did. “That’s what alcohol is for, Maura,” she said, a closed-lips smile on her face as she swallowed her first sip. “I’m nervous, too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura stepped closer- not too far lest Jane jump back, but close enough to make her intentions known. “Remember when you told me that you have a lot of things to say? Start there.” She insisted kindly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane sighed and came forward. She attempted to drop her head to Maura’s shoulder, but groaned when her boots, combined with Maura’s bare feet, made her too tall. “Hang on,” she said, and kicked them off. They landed on the mat just in front of the sink. When she finally slid perfectly into place, they both sighed, arms wrapped tight around each other. The need to become one, to take one another in, still surged through them both, made talking hard.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura acknowledged it first, fingers spreading against Jane’s shoulders. “I hate to be that person, but we need to talk before we have sex again.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane sputtered. “I-I didn’t say-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura chuckled at the turbulence against the crook of her neck. “You didn’t have to. You’re holding onto me like you want to come inside me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane stiffened and Maura felt her Italian cheeks grow hot. “Maura,” was all Jane could choke out and it tumbled out far short of the warning she wanted. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll let you,” Maura turned with a smirk, dispensing with the teasing and picking up a little mercy, “but first you have to tell me things. And I have to say them back to you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane didn’t let Maura’s good fun stop her from squeezing her hard enough to nearly pick her up off the floor. “You’ll say them back to me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m the one who asked you to do all of this, remember?” Maura yelped at the jump and the vice of Jane’s arms around her waist, “you don’t think I want you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane took pause. She pulled away from Maura and picked her beer up from the counter. After a long swig, she turned serious, dark. “I don’t just ‘want’ you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just let me get this out, alright?” Jane interrupted. “I don’t do this much. Talk about how I feel.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura just nodded, too afraid to break Jane’s groove.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But I feel </span>
  <em>
    <span>a lot </span>
  </em>
  <span>with you. I feel </span>
  <em>
    <span>a lot </span>
  </em>
  <span>about you,” Jane said on a shudder; Maura couldn’t stifle her grin. “I… go to sleep and wake up thinking about you. I’ve been going to sleep and waking up thinking about you for a long time. For years.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura couldn’t hold it in anymore. She grabbed the front of Jane’s belt and tugged it. “You could have been doing a lot more than that if you had said something.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane shook her head and pursed her lips. She sniffed and looked up to the ceiling to hold back some of the emotion that nipped at her, “No. See, and this whole thing was why - this was my ultimate fear. Alice was my ultimate fear. If I… if I loved you out in the open, someone truly fucking awful would take notice. And she would take you away from me. To get to me, to break me. But you know what? It fucking happened anyway. To the whole world we were just friends and the whole world still took notice of how I feel about you. And the world tried to sucker punch me. It did what I thought it would. But what I didn’t count on, what I didn’t know, was that you… </span>
  <em>
    <span>fuck, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Maura,” Jane paused to let the break in her voice ebb away, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>You</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Getting close to you, as close as two people could possibly be, made us untouchable. You had a good idea, and I had a good idea, but when we put them together, we were too big to fail.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Our togetherness is very… unstoppable,” Maura whispered. She hoped that it was also encouraging, but she said it primarily because it was true.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Jane agreed, as though she were accepting something, “And the floodgates are open now. I always knew that you were a weakness for me, but finding out through all this that you’re everything that makes me strong… you’re gonna be exhausted from trying to keep me away.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Never,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Maura breathed, pulling Jane into another embrace, “you’re never too close.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane chuckled at the way Maura caved into her, holding her tight. It made her wicked and confident again. She intended to dismantle Maura. “And this is where I have to be careful. Because I </span>
  <em>
    <span>love </span>
  </em>
  <span>you. In a big, big way. If we start this, really start it? I don’t intend on stopping it until one of us is in the grave. I’m not doing doe eyes and awkward first dates with you.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura whimpered at the molten words against her skin and the hot hands near the drawstring of her sweats. “No, no I agree. We’re too connected for that. I say we skip right over all of it and get to wildly in love.” She said desperately.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane laughed openly at that. “Sounds about right. So is this you saying the same things back to me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A thousand percent,” Maura said, kissing Jane with firm assurance. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jane let Maura suck at her bottom lip as she was wont to do, for three beats, maybe more, as they broke apart. “That doesn’t sound mathematically accurate.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t be patronizing,” Maura warned. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, I won’t,” said Jane. She waited, her private smile growing, then finally spoke again. “I told you I would kill her,” it was soft, it was quiet, but it was definitive. “That I would kill her for what she did to you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You certainly weren’t the one doing the dying, to borrow your words,” Maura shared in Jane’s triumph for a moment, but then her eyes turned sad. “We fought.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Jane sighed, “we did. A for real fight. I take it you meant what you said.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You did too,” said Maura, “but the more these things happen to you, the less equipped I am to deal with it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She wanted to stand her ground, wanted to hold on to a little bit of pettiness for all the times Jane had made her sick with worry. But when Jane lowered herself to her knees, hands sliding up the fabric of the Celtics sweater on her torso, creating a velvet friction on her sides, thumbs rubbing against her belly, she couldn’t. She couldn’t keep her hands from Jane’s hair, any more than she could stop the breaths that expanded her ribs and drew them infinitely closer. All of her gravitated toward the intimacy of the moment, despite whatever her wishes may have been. And that was because she </span>
  <em>
    <span>loved </span>
  </em>
  <span>Jane. She loved her seamless tango between bravado and need, and above all, she still loved the way Jane made her feel as though all that mattered was the two of them. “Then love me,” Jane finally pleaded, “love me and help me keep them from happening. Just like you helped me tonight. Unstoppable, remember?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maura considered. She smiled brightly when she realized that she finally had the chance to say it back. “Mmm. Unstoppable. I </span>
  <em>
    <span>love </span>
  </em>
  <span>you, Jane.” </span>
</p>
<p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
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